Trump's war on science, a chronology (Week 1)

boing
21

I think I am bound to object to the shelving of cold fusion with string theory. While I don’t understand the latter, it is, or so my theoretical physicist of choice told me, not conceivably bogus.

But then, I wold need more expert opinions on that. (shouts) Bring me the experts! I am not tired of them!

1 Like
22

One has not been replicated and the other has no experimental test. Evolutionary psychology is like String Theory in that there are currently no experimental tests that can indicate its truth or falsehood. It is like cold fusion in that, as I understand it, results of observational studies are conflicting.

Cold fusion may be possible by some as yet unknown mechanism, String Theory may yet emerge as the preferred model for physics, but I’m not going to put bets in either.

1 Like
23

I don’t know enough to really comprehend it, but the line of argument seems to be coherent

The only positive outcome of Bannon is imo that he replaced Putin as the grey eminence in most discussions about the current state of politics in the US. While Putin is an autocrat and is trying to shape the world around his views it felt always …cheap… to blame Russia without accepting that Trump is a product of the US society.

3 Likes
24

Let’s see,

  • Many of your skilled colleagues are worried about summary deportation.
  • The agencies most responsible for government science funding are headed by incompetents.
  • The government is now run by people who expect ideological conformity from research funded by the government.
  • Universities and research centers are receiving less and less state funding.
  • Private industry is economically competitive with research.
  • Other countries are increasingly happy to fund scientific endeavors and drain talent. Especially places that are rapidly developing a robust state-of-the-art scientific infrastructure like China.

All in all, it’s a great time to be an American scientist.

5 Likes
25

Exactly!
Though I would prefer the word “deflection” to “cheap”. Do not look at the right wing men behind the curtain!

1 Like
26

On the nose, my friend. You hit it right smack on the nose.

2 Likes
27

Ugh. Agreed. Humanities are in even worse shape, as there is nothing comparable to private funding for humanities research - non-profits and museums. The academy across the board is in trouble because of the war on intellectuals that the GOP has been engaging in for decades. All of that has now come to fruition, for all of us engaged in work through higher education.

2 Likes
28

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.