
Alaska’s scientists despair over plan to shrink state universities - aaronbrethorst
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02344-7
======
657df026-caa
It is a little buried in there, but it is worth noting that the cut in funding
is going to have a major impact on some important climate change research
groups and facilities.

It should not be a surprise that the governor who scrapped the funding is a
Republican. This isn't just a part of an anti-government or even anti-
education strategy, it is a part of the war on science (specifically regarding
climate change).

~~~
kartan
> This isn't just a part of an anti-government or even anti-education strategy

Big corporations should be paying way more taxes. It would be a good way to
avoid creating such undemocratic centers of power. Education is a human right:
Article 26. (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free,
at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall
be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally
available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis
of merit.

* [https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/](https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/)

~~~
atmosx
Uneducated population doesn’t understand the repercussions of their choices
and can be easily controlled through FUD. There have been regimes (e.g.
Portugal’s military dictatorship) who made lack of education an official
policy.

~~~
molmalo
Your post sparked curiosity in me, and I googled it... but according to
Wikipedia, the Portuguese dictatorship expanded literacy to cover most of the
population, and also made a:

> strong investment in secondary and university education, which experienced
> in this period one of the fastest growth rates of Portuguese education
> history to date. [1]

So, it seems like Wikipedia contradicts your statement...

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estado_Novo_(Portugal)#Educati...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estado_Novo_\(Portugal\)#Education)

~~~
atmosx
The above claim comes from this article:
[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals-
radic...](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals-radical-
drugs-policy-is-working-why-hasnt-the-world-copied-it)

More specifically (quoting relevant paragraph):

\--

In truth, there was a lot of ignorance back then. Forty years of authoritarian
rule under the regime established by António Salazar in 1933 had suppressed
education, weakened institutions and lowered the school-leaving age, in a
strategy intended to keep the population docile. The country was closed to the
outside world; people missed out on the experimentation and mind-expanding
culture of the 1960s. When the regime ended abruptly in a military coup in
1974, Portugal was suddenly opened to new markets and influences. Under the
old regime, Coca-Cola was banned and owning a cigarette lighter required a
licence. When marijuana and then heroin began flooding in, the country was
utterly unprepared.

\--

That said, you are correcting wikipedia says the exact opposite which is
_interesting_.

------
rconti
I've been to UAF and stayed in the dorms -- it's gorgeous.

Ted Stevens channeled tons of federal funds into his state over the years. [1]

I can't pretend to understand Alaska's budget situation, but, in my opinion,
it's a goddamned shame to cut off your state's future.

[1]
[https://www.dermotcole.com/reportingfromalaska/2018/9/1/mcca...](https://www.dermotcole.com/reportingfromalaska/2018/9/1/mccain-
targeting-pork-barrel-spending-in-alaska-like-no-one-else)

~~~
NegativeLatency
There’s an NPR podcast called Midnight Oil that goes into detail about a lot
of Alaska’s modern history revolving around oil extraction and the associated
wealth fund that generates the PFDs (dividends that get handed out every year)

[https://www.npr.org/podcasts/532251021/midnight-oil-the-
big-...](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/532251021/midnight-oil-the-big-thaw)

------
tibbydudeza
All to increase the yearly state handout to Alaskans and yet folks decry
socialism ... how ironic.

------
foota
I would imagine the universities contribute quite significantly to their local
economies, this could harm them quite a bit.

~~~
NegativeLatency
Not as much as oil sadly

------
Bud
Just a side note: this was #1, as it should be, and a few right-wingers very
very obviously flagged it for political reasons and knocked it entirely off
the front page. Which should be actionable.

~~~
dang
I'm afraid that's not accurate. (Isn't it fascinating how something that
didn't happen can be "very very obvious"?) Rather, a moderator downweighted it
because this story has had several major discussions on HN recently:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20383708](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20383708)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20479471](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20479471)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20548701](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20548701)

No important story ever feels like it gets enough discussion on HN, because
frontpage space is the scarcest resource here:
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20scarce&sort=byDate&d...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20scarce&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=true&page=0).
It's important to avoid repetition because the goal of the site is to gratify
curiosity. When there's an ongoing story, one test we apply is whether there
is significant new information in a new submission:
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20%22significant%20new...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20%22significant%20new%20information%22&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0).
In this case I don't think the bar was met.

~~~
Bud
Thank you for taking all that time to clarify this for me.

