I support the call for a science debate 2008
We are reaching a point where the US primaries are going into their
last phase, and while a number of important issues have been raised
and addressed, science and technology have had little coverage so far.
This is nothing new, since science and technology have figured little
in any US presidential election, but given how important those very
issues are right now, this should change.
This is why I fully support the Science Debate 2008 initiative, first
largely started by bloggers and science journalists, but now supported
by what appears to be the entire scientific community in the US, with
the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the
National Academy of Sciences throwing their considerable weight behind
the initiative. And it's not just scientists, business people realize
the importance of these issues as well, which explains why the Council
on Competitiveness (a coalition of business executives, labor leaders
and university presidents) has also joined the supporters of the
initiative.
Given the fact that I am not a US citizen, one could ask why I feel
that I should endorse this initiative. That's a good question, and
also to a large part why I haven't spoken out in support before.
However, thinking about the issue, I think it's important for
everyone, and not only for people living in the US. There are several
reasons for this, but the most important one is that science is a
global collaboration, and we simply cannot afford to have such a major
player as the US not be part of it. While science would continue
without support from politicians, a large amount of science funding
comes from federal sources. On top of that, the political climate has
a large impact on what can and will be researched. This can either be
directly, though law prohibiting certain venues of research, or
indirectly, through prioritizing funds etc. While I don't think that
the US will ever reach Soviet-era anti-science, there is no doubt to
my mind, that the efforts of people like senator Inhofe have had a
negative impact on the research on global warming.
A presidential debate on science will show citizens where the
candidates stand on these very important issues, and allow them to
vote accordingly.
Again, I endorse the Science Debate 2008 initiative, and concur with
their statement:
"Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges
facing America and the rest of the world, the increasing need for
accurate scientific information in political decision making, and
the vital role scientific innovation plays in spurring economic
growth and competitiveness, we call for a public debate in which
the U.S. presidential candidates share their views on the issues of
The Environment, Health and Medicine, and Science and Technology
Policy."
Website for Science Debate 2008
Labels: 2008 Presidental Election, science, science communication,
science debate 2008, US politics
posted by Kristjan Wager at 1:38 PM View blog reactions
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
No comments:
Post a Comment