What have we lost by separating science and politics into largely separate spheres today?
I start the book with a quote from a presidential debate from 2007, where a leading candidate – I won’t mention his name – was asked whether he believed in the theory of evolution. “It’s interesting that that question would even be asked of someone running for president,” he responded. “I’m not planning on writing the curriculum for an 8th grade science book. I’m asking for the opportunity to be president of the United States.” To be so willingly, so openly removed from the insights of science would have appalled Priestley and the Founding Fathers. (In part the whole dispute between Adams and Jefferson erupted because Jefferson called Adams anti-science in his letters to Priestley.) And it would have appalled them for good reason, because we live in age where both everyday experience and global politics are hugely effected by the path of scientific innovation and understanding: think global warming, stem cell research, genomics, computer science, and so on. To happily profess your igno
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- What have we lost by separating science and politics into largely separate spheres today?
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