David Strom:
Science is special though, for a lot of reasons. Freedom is even more important because without out we can never learn how the world works in a fundamental way. The suppression of scientific discussion is a form of barbarism. The Soviet Union imposed barriers to scientific discourse and Russia today is still a backwater in many fields because of that. Math and physics mostly flourished because the subjects were too abstract for the powers that be to understand, although even in these fields prominent scientists were persecuted for having the wrong political opinions.
Social Justice Warrior scientists in America are going down this path, and it is a disaster in the making. America leads the world in economic and scientific performance, but that is the result of a choice, not an inevitability. We invest in science and give mostly free rein to scientists, barring massive ethical quandaries. Yet the new generation of scientists want to curb the search for knowledge and cancel scientists who dissent from left wing politics.
# posted by Ranger @ 2:14 PM
