FOM: The politicization of science, Mathias's criticisms

[Joe Shipman]

Steve Simpson:
 > Tying this in to f.o.m., I would note that even G"odel's
 > incompleteness theorem is often popularly misused by academics and
 > others as an argument against reason and science in general, and
 > even against particular technologies such as nuclear energy and
 > missile defense.  This kind of blatant misuse of f.o.m. is an issue
 > that I think would be very appropriate for discussion on the FOM
 > list.
Steve, can you please give more specific quotations or citations here?

I agree with you that if science is publicly funded it is hard to see a
better alternative than peer review; I think the main reform needed is
complete openness.  (I don't agree with Mathias about the need for
openness in publication and tenure deliberations [at least at private
universities], which are inherently private, but when tax dollars are
involved openness is absolutely essential.)

-- JS