Essentially the question comes down to what science is now? Is anyone still practicing it? And if not, if they're doing something else and calling it science, what exactly is it they're doing?
The younger generation of scientists are like children who have been raised by wolves. They have learned the techniques but have no feel for the proper aims, attitudes and evaluations of science. What little culture they have comes not from science but from bureaucrats: they utterly lack scientific culture; they do not talk science, instead they spout procedures.It has now become implicitly accepted among the mass of professional ‘scientists’ that the decisions which matter most in science are those imposed upon science by outside forces: by employers (who gets the jobs, who gets promotion), funders (who gets the big money), publishers (who gets their work in the big journals), bureaucratic regulators (who gets allowed to do work), and the law courts (whose ideas get backed-up, or criminalized, by the courts). It is these bureaucratic mechanisms that constitute ‘real life’ and the ‘bottom line’ for scientific practice. The tradition has been broken.
Viewed in this way, science is a microcosm of human thought in general. Society, or at least a big visible portion, has enshrined obedience as the prime value in a way not previously seen in modern times. Just the basic human ability to reason and create has been denigrated of late. The cargo cult worship of AI is sufficient evidence of that.
Anyway, many such cases.
2 comments:
Thanks for linking to Bruce Charlton's website, his posts are fun to read plus he's cranky.. a logical reaction to these strange times. I've bookmarked his blog for future reference.
At this point in the history of the web science has become something of a spectator sport where everyone is free to believe whatever theory they happen to like at any given moment. It can be far more fun to read about aliens, forbidden history, alternate science, different cosmologies, and all sorts of other things than to listen to the official 'voice of science' about taking covid vaccines, how global warming is a disaster caused by too many humans or, god forbid, cow farts. You know there's more but I won't burden you with further examples.
Despite the fact there are far more scientists than ever before in human history nobody has come up with any positive developments in recent decades. It used to be that life on earth was visibly improving or we were given reasons to expect solid improvement soon (remember the O'Neill space habitats?). It's possible many solutions to current problems exist but if they can be done without major cash transactions they won't happen.
So remember when you're feeling very small and insecure, how amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!
Avoiding obedience as the prime social value is a good plan.
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In case you missed this last summer..
Well you're right that crankiness can be refreshing in these platitudinous times. So it is with Charlton. This post is pithy and I think it gets to something.
Science should be about more than just finding new conveniences for modern life. It should be a way to connect and engage with the universe, almost like adding an extra dimension to philosophy. Of course in recent years even the invention of new conveniences has taken a backseat to monetizing old ones. And putting more people under more control. I swear, if it were possible to shrink us all down and keep us in a jar...
The O'Neill tubes were a wild idea. I feel pretty certain that I've seen illustrations of them before. Of course the question is how many of us would want to live in space, assuming these things were sturdy and reliable. I wouldn't on a long-term basis. Sentimental attachment to the homeworld, perhaps. But you do notice that people used to have wild visions of the future, which now we have a hard time imagining.
"Can we have your liver then?"
"All right, you've talked me into it."
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That was an eventful family picnic. Yeah, I guess I can see some similarities.
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