War on science

Overview

Persistent attempts to attack and undermine the credibility of science have been coming from the Bush II administration and the American political right in general.

These attacks have been most notable in the areas of:

• evolution by natural selection (re-branded as "Darwinism", i.e. just another ideology): overwhelmingly agreed upon by scientists (especially those in relevant fields such as biology, geology, and psychology) but now disbelieved by a majority of Americans
• global warming (see global warming denial): agreed upon by the vast majority of scientists, but "controversial" in the US
• anti-vaccination activism

Usage

The war on science refers specifically to initiatives which appear to be organized and widespread; individual or unorganized attacks on science are merely anti-science.

Conclusions

Science has been attacked from both ends of the producer-consumer relationship.

On one end we have the no-nothing deniers who convince others that all medicine is invasive and harmful, or at least not to be trusted.

On the other, we have pharmaceutical companies who exploit the unthinking faith in science that many people, especially the well-educated, still have (and which many understandably dig into in the face of the no-nothing assault) by conflating "science" with "pharmaceuticals", people in lab coats or with science degrees, etc.

solutions

1. Better citizen access to raw data, and tools for understanding that data; the open science movement should help with this
2. An actuarial yardstick -- analogous to XKCD's radiation dosage chart, but applied to odds of various events ranging from near-certainty to near-impossibility

Related Pages

• religion vs. science
  • It is often argued or claimed, mainly in religious circles, that science destroys morality

Links

Books

• The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney (official web site)

Filed Links

1. redirect template:links/smw

Humor

• 2006-08-27 P.I.G., Or "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Factually Incorrect Guides"

Books

reports on the war

• The Republican War on Science (web site) by Chris Mooney

attacks on science

• The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to Science by Tom Bethell. If the jacket blurb quoted here (comment by John Wilkins, 27 Aug 2006 at 8:02 pm) is accurate, then this book contradicts itself: how can the number species be increasing if Darwinism (including the core idea that evolution by natural selection causes speciation) "is crumbling"?