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Entry: The Right's Science Problem Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_rights_science_problem#17239 Post contents: It is not neo-conservativism against science. The problem is that the institutes that speak in the name of science are indeed corrupt, and untrustworthy. And even if they were not, there is still doubt about whether a scientific method even exists, even if scientists pretend otherwise. Perhaps it is fair to compare the institutes of science to the institutes of religion in the middle ages: little or no tolerance for alternative views or counter-opinion, inseparable from financial interest and structures of the political powers of the day. Perhaps we will know the truth about science if science is treated as religion: separated from the state, and funded only by its believers. The germ theory of disease is a really bad example to use here, since it was initiated by Semmelweis, who was treated as a villain by scientists of his day. Semmelweis, who worked in a clinic in Vienna where cases of child-bed fever were often as high as 90% suggested to the doctors of his day to wash their hands between autopsies and child deliveries. But the scientists of the time considered that suggestion unscientific, Semmelweis was deemed crypto-religious (since he attributed importance to death), and continued to go against basic rules of hygiene for several more decades throughout most of the enlightened world (interestingly in the non-enlightened world such a blunder would never have occurred to anyone, "primitive" tribes did not have the problem) and caused the death of tens of thousands of children and mothers alike. Thanks to the ideological bias of scientists of the time. But this story demonstrates something else. Regardless of the scientific explanation and reasoning, often common sense is good enough for basing judgment. Even without knowing too much science it is not terribly difficult to guess that not washing hands after an autopsy can not lead to anything desirable. I personally am convinced that excessive dependence on cars (in most of the US public transportation is lacking, and people often have to drive cars to the local drug store) is not beneficial. If second-hand smoke is disturbing to some, so should be the daily four-hours of traffic jams on Route number X on which most Americans go to work at an average speed of 5 MPH. It does not take a Ph. D. to figure this out. And it is very likely in large part responsible for global warming. Sent at: 2008 07 24