
Scientists Finally Got Americans to Worry About the Climate - jseliger
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-10-01/americans-are-finally-worried-about-climate-change
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topmonk
[https://archive.is/1NNgL](https://archive.is/1NNgL)

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musgrove
Since when is it part of a scientist's job to "get people to worry?" That's
contradictory to what scientists do, which is to be unbiased observers who
deal with facts and theory. Not political and cultural activism.

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eesmith
What you describe is, quite simply, not true.

To start with, most of science is not based purely on observation. Scientists
will change things, to see if a change makes a difference.

Second, there's no such thing as "unbiased", and it would be unethical to do
so. We could run experiments to deliberately infect prisoners with rabies and
let the disease take it course.

That's unbiased science, but (we now agree) deeply immoral, to the point that
we do not allow this sort of science to be carried out.

Third, nothing about being a scientist requires that people give up their
humanity. If a medical doctor walking down the street sees someone choking,
that doctor is likely to help. If a structural engineer sees signs that a
structure is about to collapse, that engineer is likely to sound the alarm.

Sure, in these examples it's not "part of [their] job" to do so ... but
neither was it part of Einstein's job to co-author a letter to FDR warning
about German nuclear weapons, nor was it specifically part of Sagan's job to
get people to worry about nuclear winter, as a consequence of nuclear war.

And no one seriously says that their political and cultural activism was
contrary to being a scientist.

Lastly, scientists are part of a culture. Where do you think the funding comes
from? If an organization wants to develop methods to help improve crop yields
in the third world, as a way to reduce hunger, then that's political and
cultural activism. If they then pay agronomists to do the related science, the
yes, political and cultural activism was part of Norman Borlaug's job. He got
the Nobel Prize too.

