The War on Science: Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It | 
pickThe book looks back through the history of the US to show how we got to the point where so many people mistrust science, bringing us nearly to our current moment (2016). Then Otto details a step by step plan we can follow to try to rebridge the gap. It‘s superb and required reading for anyone concerned about our country‘s future.
Given the news this weekend, I‘m thinking I should kick these two to the top of the TBR. We live in sinister times so I‘m hoping the “What We Can Do About It” subtitle is useful.
@MrBook just posted a list of #science books recommended by Bill Gates. I wanted to add this book to his list for 4 reasons:
1) I come from a family of scientists who taught me to consider ALL the data
2) Alt-Science institutions make me sick (look up the Creation Museum for instance)
3) the nominee to head NASA (Rep. Bridenstine) staunchly denies climate change (a large area of NASA research), and
4) I want life on earth to not collapse
🌎🌍🌏
Plans for tonight include drinking and finishing this before book club tomorrow night. Antiauthoritarianism + wine = perfect combo. 🍷🔬
My afternoon in a nutshell.
☑️ Giant coffee
☑️ Giant book
☑️ Post-it flags
☑️ Laptop for work
Time to dig into this some more. I'm slowly working my way through this because it's like 500 pages and fairly dense, but so far it's incredibly well researched and accessible. Otto does a great job of discussing the intersections of politics and anti-science, and in particular, frames the issue as something that comes largely from the right but has been propagated by the left too. Important stuff.
Spending my afternoon with a giant book and a giant floofball. 🐹📖
This looks like a really great read that tackles our recent anti-science political trends. It's also HUGE. I'll be spending a lot of time with this book.
#thebookishferrets
A reminder that if you doubt any of the above scientific facts, you are part of the problem.
#litsypartyofonescientist #litsypartyofone
There are other issues with GM that pose policy questions, such as corporate ownership of genomes, monoculture farming and its effects on pollinators, economic justice, farmers inability to harvest their own seeds, and the possible spread of GM pollen. These are issues we should be discussing, but the evidence does not support health concerns.
The scientific consensus on the safety of eating GM foods is even stronger than that for the existence of human-caused global warming. 88% of scientists say that GM foods are safe to eat, compared with just 37% of the general public.
As inventor Dean Kannen says, "We get what we celebrate. If we celebrate actors and celebrity, we get the balloon boy and stupid people acting out to get reality shows. If we celebrate sports, we get a bunch of kids wearing jerseys, but how many of them will actually become millionaire sports heroes? What if we celebrate science and engineering with that same adoration? "
Controversy is the most common aspect of modern antiscientific attacks, because it takes advantage of the reasonable-sounding but incorrect idea that a "healthy debate" reveals the truth. When such a debate pits knowledge against a passionately articulated opinion, the opinion often wins.
