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[IP] more on NPR: Chris Mooney, 'The Republican War On Science'





Begin forwarded message:

From: Jock Gill <jg45@xxxxxxx>
Date: November 13, 2005 10:49:40 AM EST
To: Farber Dave <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Jock Gill <jg45@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Fwd: [Dewayne-Net] NPR: Chris Mooney, 'The Republican War On Science'

Below is my note on Dewayne's post.  For IP if you wish.  -- Jock

Jock Gill
The Power of Wireless
Cooperative gain from collective behaviors at the edges
(781) 396-0492


Begin forwarded message:

From: Jock Gill <jg45@xxxxxxx>
Date: November 13, 2005 10:42:48 AM EST
To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Jock Gill <jg45@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Dewayne-Net] NPR: Chris Mooney, 'The Republican War On Science'

Dewayne,

After watching Connections [James Burke], Pandora's Box and The power of Nightmares [both by Curtis Adams for the BBC], as well as McNamara [Errol Morris], I have this strange feeling that what we are experiencing is a deep and angry backlash at the failures and bill of goods sold to us by techno utopians who had the unbridled hubris to think they could be Masters of the Universe. It does not matter if they worked at Gosplan in the USSR or for RAND in the USA. Fundamentally they were all techno utopians who got it wrong at great cost.

As Irving Krystoll says in Power of Nightmares, the Liberals have no explanation as to why President Johnson and RAND did not produce a Great Society and End Poverty. They also have no apologies for their failures.

Until the Liberals and Democrats can first acknowledge these failures and apologize for them, the Right will run amok with its anti-science. What we need is some fresh thinking that is able to embrace science and technology with humility, respect for the impossibility of perfect knowledge, and an honest acceptance of the existence of mystery. It is past time to move beyond the approaches of FDR's years and the far right's Cold War use of FEAR as an organizing principal. We will only succeed if we stop looking in the rear view mirror and tackle the future head on. FDR is dead. The Cold War is over. Long live a new and confident Liberalism -- now to invent it.

Jock



Jock Gill
The Power of Wireless
Cooperative gain from collective behaviors at the edges
(781) 396-0492


On Nov 13, 2005, at 9:12 AM, Dewayne Hendricks wrote:

Talk of the Nation (Science Friday), November 11, 2005 · Chris Mooney about what he calls "the Republican War on Science." From evolution to climate change to stem cell research, he says politicians are mishandling science in pursuit of a larger political agenda.

Guest:

Chris Mooney, author, The Republican War on Science; Washington correspondent, Seed Magazine

Audio (RealAudio) can be found at: <http://www.npr.org/templates/ story/story.php?storyId=5008303&ft=1&f=5>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>




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