
The 7 biggest problems facing science, according to 270 scientists - ohjeez
http://www.vox.com/2016/7/14/12016710/science-challeges-research-funding-peer-review-process?linkId=27003386
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nibs
I thought this would be a list of things like energy, food production, clean
water, climate change, etc. But it seems like a list of politics
inevitabilities involved in performing the science. Does it matter what form
science takes if it works? I do not care that funds are being cut. The same
thing applies to other fields that are both highly zero-sum competitive and
highly valuable to society (law, medicine, politics). If you want to play the
zero-sum game, expect the drawbacks of zero-sum games.

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internaut
Science has always been to some extent political. However increasingly people
e.g. Thiel are wondering if some of them are actually scientists or whether
they are actually technicians slash bureaucrats in disguise.

Politics has a lot to do with the art of your Memeplex co-opting other
unrelated topics or areas.

For instance why are leftists so thoroughly associated with the environmental
movement. I could make a case for why that should be so, but I know I could
also make a case for why right wing conservatives would feel passionate about
_conserving_ the environment from a context of nationalism.

You have got to deal with the fact that politics bleeds into everything, it is
what makes moderating forums so difficult. Humans are intrinsically political
animals and the internal social civil war between partisans is not about to
end anytime soon. I'd be interested in understanding where this came from in
an evolutionary context, because it must have been very important for survival
(or it is a giant memetic parasite).

