K.E. Boulding, late president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) provided the most helpful context I have found for understanding the U.S. side of the situation you articulated well.
In his presidential address to the AAAS he noted the historically shared values underlying both the subcultures of science and democracy.
I.e., to undercut democracy, we will also be attacking the ethical foundations of scientific inquiry.
His list of five shared values he attributes to the gradual struggle of both subcultures to emerge from under the deadly opposition of king and pope:
-- veracity; the attempt to tell the truth as best we can
-- strong individualism; versus stereotyping by group
-- a commitment to testing of assumptions against the experience of others; this acts to balance the imperatives of individualism
-- curiosity; not really a popular value ("Curiosity killed the cat.")
-- rejection of the use of threat to change minds.
You can see how an economic system devoted almost exclusively to quarterly profit would have little direct motive to commit to extended support for either science or democracy.
Boulding's address is available online and in full from the Feb. 1980 issue of Science.
While my profession was at the intersection of humanities and hard science, I had to go abroad for further education. And stayed abroad the rest of my working life, as positions (which never paid a living salary) were so few in the States. In general, the States doesn't try to hold on to human resources that have more than half a brain cell, as many expats will attest.
two significant "show" events "coincided" on the same day. On one side, D. Trump sent FAFO to Colombia; on the other, the IT sector and the stock market fell in exctasy from chineese a-la breakthrough in so-called AI. Both events are big geopolitical shows and Trump wants to get in bed with chineese thugs.
But, a bigger real problem is the US economy, which is a service-based economy. In such an economy, whatever you do turns out to be very expensive. After all, in the service economy, you don't need tons of engineers and science capacity. That's what's happening under the surface of realpolitics.
Amazing what a country can do when it's not busy recycling mid-century Nazism and medieval magical thinking.
K.E. Boulding, late president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) provided the most helpful context I have found for understanding the U.S. side of the situation you articulated well.
In his presidential address to the AAAS he noted the historically shared values underlying both the subcultures of science and democracy.
I.e., to undercut democracy, we will also be attacking the ethical foundations of scientific inquiry.
His list of five shared values he attributes to the gradual struggle of both subcultures to emerge from under the deadly opposition of king and pope:
-- veracity; the attempt to tell the truth as best we can
-- strong individualism; versus stereotyping by group
-- a commitment to testing of assumptions against the experience of others; this acts to balance the imperatives of individualism
-- curiosity; not really a popular value ("Curiosity killed the cat.")
-- rejection of the use of threat to change minds.
You can see how an economic system devoted almost exclusively to quarterly profit would have little direct motive to commit to extended support for either science or democracy.
Boulding's address is available online and in full from the Feb. 1980 issue of Science.
Thanks for this piece --
Robert in Vermont
While my profession was at the intersection of humanities and hard science, I had to go abroad for further education. And stayed abroad the rest of my working life, as positions (which never paid a living salary) were so few in the States. In general, the States doesn't try to hold on to human resources that have more than half a brain cell, as many expats will attest.
Not that I am pro China.. but I hope the Silicon Valley Tech Millionaries ARE HURT FINANCIALLY.. as much as possible.
While I don’t disagree with anything you’ve written it’s disturbingly close to what Vivek said.
hello,
two significant "show" events "coincided" on the same day. On one side, D. Trump sent FAFO to Colombia; on the other, the IT sector and the stock market fell in exctasy from chineese a-la breakthrough in so-called AI. Both events are big geopolitical shows and Trump wants to get in bed with chineese thugs.
But, a bigger real problem is the US economy, which is a service-based economy. In such an economy, whatever you do turns out to be very expensive. After all, in the service economy, you don't need tons of engineers and science capacity. That's what's happening under the surface of realpolitics.