Lynne Kiesling
I am blissfully on vacation this week in Maui (biking, diving, snorkeling, swimming, and not spending time on the Internet), but did check in briefly this afternoon.
For those of you interested in keeping up with the “politicization of science” and bastardization of the scientific method aspect of it that angers me the most (and that I commented on in an earlier post), I recommend this op-ed in the LA Times from Daniel Sarewitz and Samuel Thernstrom. I don’t agree with their entire argument, but it’s an exceedingly valuable contribution, despite the dichotomous R/D, left/right red/blue framing that I dislike so much. Here’s an example from their piece that may catch your attention:
The real scandal illustrated by the e-mails is not that scientists tried to undermine peer review, fudge and conceal data, and torpedo competitors, but that scientists and advocates on both sides of the climate debate continue to claim political authority derived from a false ideal of pure science. This charade is a disservice to both science and democracy. To science, because the reality cannot live up to the myth; to democracy, because the difficult political choices created by the genuine but also uncertain threat of climate change are concealed by the scientific debate.
For further commentary on the Sarewitz/Thernstrom piece, I also recommend the comments from Jonathan Adler at the Volokh Conspiracy, environmental studies professor Roger Pielke Jr., and Ron Bailey at Reason.