https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/10/01/slo...ence-15065
EXCERPTS: . . . Without a change in the direction of our culture, American technological supremacy is facing an existential threat. I've always been bullish about American scientific and technological supremacy, not in some starry-eyed, jingoistic way, but due to the simple reality that the United States remains the world's research and development engine.
This is true for at least four reasons, which I detailed previously: (1) Superior higher education; (2) A cultural attitude that encourages innovation; (3) Substantial funding and financial incentives; and (4) A legal framework that protects intellectual property and tolerates failure through efficient bankruptcy laws. There's a fifth, fuzzier reason, namely that smart and talented people have long gravitated toward the U.S.
[...] Unfortunately, there are a confluence of factors that, when combined, constitute an existential threat to American science: Postmodernism, political partisanship, and trial lawyers.
Postmodernism. Though nobody can actually define postmodernism, it is characterized by a rejection of objective truth. This toxic ideology is [see article]...
Political partisanship. There was a time when scientists knew better than to deal in politics. That time is now gone... [see article]
Trial lawyers. Like vultures hunting for a carcass on a desert highway, trial lawyers lurk in the background, swooping down to win jackpot verdicts against large firms, often those in the agricultural technology and pharmaceutical industries. The pattern is always the same [see artcile]...
Self-Inflicted Wounds Cut the Deepest. Societal decline is a choice. [...] The good news is that, though these self-inflicted wounds are substantial, they are not irreversible... But these things require effort and a change in mindset... (MORE - details)
EXCERPTS: . . . Without a change in the direction of our culture, American technological supremacy is facing an existential threat. I've always been bullish about American scientific and technological supremacy, not in some starry-eyed, jingoistic way, but due to the simple reality that the United States remains the world's research and development engine.
This is true for at least four reasons, which I detailed previously: (1) Superior higher education; (2) A cultural attitude that encourages innovation; (3) Substantial funding and financial incentives; and (4) A legal framework that protects intellectual property and tolerates failure through efficient bankruptcy laws. There's a fifth, fuzzier reason, namely that smart and talented people have long gravitated toward the U.S.
[...] Unfortunately, there are a confluence of factors that, when combined, constitute an existential threat to American science: Postmodernism, political partisanship, and trial lawyers.
Postmodernism. Though nobody can actually define postmodernism, it is characterized by a rejection of objective truth. This toxic ideology is [see article]...
Political partisanship. There was a time when scientists knew better than to deal in politics. That time is now gone... [see article]
Trial lawyers. Like vultures hunting for a carcass on a desert highway, trial lawyers lurk in the background, swooping down to win jackpot verdicts against large firms, often those in the agricultural technology and pharmaceutical industries. The pattern is always the same [see artcile]...
Self-Inflicted Wounds Cut the Deepest. Societal decline is a choice. [...] The good news is that, though these self-inflicted wounds are substantial, they are not irreversible... But these things require effort and a change in mindset... (MORE - details)