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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   35667 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 20, 2023

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Political endorsements might not always win hearts and minds, but when candidates threaten a retreat from reason, science must speak out.

Why must "science" speak out? Science didn't.

But the study does question whether research journals should endorse electoral candidates if one implication is falling trust in science. This is an important question, and there are, sadly, no easy answers. The study shows the potential costs of making an endorsement. But inaction has costs, too. Considering the record of Trump’s four years in office, this journal judged that silence was not an option.

The article doesn't bother to explain what the costs of inaction are. The endorsement didn't shift any votes, and to the extent it had a public impact it seems mostly to have pissed away some of whatever political capital Nature has. Even if you were to grant that Democrats are 100% aligned with reality and Republicans 100% opposed, the endorsement did nothing to further the cause of better public policy by maximizing Democrats' electoral fortunes. And it adds further to the Republican perception that "science" is just an institution driven more by fads and an ideological worldview with implacably opposed, non-empirical values.

I think it has to be understood less as Nature's editorial board trying to influence the election (implausible anyway) and more trying to position itself as a valuable ally to Democrats.

Funny you should mention Science. This may deserve its own top level post, but the Editor in Chief of Science today posted a tweet thread praising the decision by Nature and essentially making the claim that the role of scientists is not merely to provide evidence to be used in discussions of policy, but to demand that evidence is used exclusively to advance ostensibly left-wing goals.

To acknowledge the science and evidence underlying climate change, and develop a different policy prescription based on that is “unacceptable.”

Maybe I am naive, but I had some degree of faith in the scientist as a disinterested truth seeker. That is no longer the case. “Science,” and Science, have confirmed themselves as activist organizations only willing to expose (and, conversely, conceal) the truth in pursuit of political goals.

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