Comments on: “Science Under Obama” on the BBC’s “Night Waves”

By: Gaythia

Gaythia — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:28:27 +0000

Further exploration of Oliver Morton’s website has left me enchanted with the writing style and clarity of the excerpt from the introduction to his book “Eating the Sun” given here:
http://heliophage.wordpress.com/eating-the-sun-excerpts-etc/. I think that his nearly poetic paragraphs on photosynthesis and how anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions outstrip the uptake capacity of plants ought to be read by everyone.

By: Gaythia

Gaythia — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:00:08 +0000

@Oliver: Please keep going for it then! Should us bystanders be left with the impression that you give people “a little chill” or is the glacier photo at your website leaving false impressions?

Personally, I think that the main problem with the BBC show was that too many interesting people were asked to participate at once given the allocated time. I’d love to see some more in depth discussions between the major contributors.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 08:33:01 +0000

either/or? shucks, I was going for both/and…

By: MW

MW — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 03:27:39 +0000

Chris, I am in agreement of your analysis of the discussion panelists. What I find amazing is how closely the attacks on GM food science are aligned in style and substance to many of the denialist attacks on climate science. What is the problem with science in the public image that sets up the continued attacks?

Keep up the good work, Chris.

By: Gaythia

Gaythia — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:02:01 +0000

On second hearing, I notice that it was actually the BBC’s Philip Dodd who initially merged Jared Diamond’s book titles, and Dr. Diamond did not correct him. I wish Jared Diamond had been given more time.

I agree that Janet Rowley’s comments were intriguing. I am sorry that the moderator cut her off when she wanted to comment after your “scientists on islands need to build a canoe” comments. I also liked her balanced analysis of GM food crops.

And, given that you seem to have been granted the last word, paraphrased as “that we need to take all of this on a case by case basis” I hope that some of these sorts of analyses will be forthcoming.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:38:39 +0000

It’s a significant psychic risk to put your perspective out there. Especially speaking after someone like Oliver with such a depth of knowledge and quotes from obscurity.

By: Gaythia

Gaythia — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:31:20 +0000

Chris, have you read Jared Diamond’s books? I highly recommend all of them.

I think you have the titles blended. The books are (starting with the most recent):

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution of the Human Animal

If I had to choose, I’d start with Guns Germs and Steel, which gives an explanation as to why Western Civilization triumphed. Collapse is sort of the flip side of that book, highlighting cultures that did not make it.

I agree that your thoughts and his are pretty well aligned. The objective being not to have your works end up in the footnotes to a follow-up chapter of “Collapse”.

By: David Bruggeman

David Bruggeman — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:32:48 +0000

Chris,

Have you read The Birth-Mark? While I can see why it could be characterized as anti-science, my read is that it speaks more to conceptions of vanity and physical (im)perfection than anything else. Whatever the perception of Kass, his work in ethics would resonate with that theme.

By: Busiturtle

Busiturtle — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:06:42 +0000

Anyone counting on President Obama to follow through on a promise might want to consider his track record.

What’s plan B?