Earlier this year, I read a book I had purchased about a decade ago (which is characteristic of my book-reading rate) entitled The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson. The book to a large extent is a history of ideas, but holds at its center the life of Joseph Priestley, an English natural philosopher, theologian, and political theorist, whose work had a significant influence on the founding of the United States. He was a friend, collaborator and confidant of Ben Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. After being driven out of Great Britain for his public support for the French Revolution, he escaped to the US where he spent the remainder of his life. It’s unfortunate that Priestley is not better known in this country.
In the world of science, Priestley is most famous for being the first to isolate oxygen, though to the end of his days he was not able to recognize the discovery as such because he clung to the phlogiston theory. (He called oxygen “dephlogisticated air.”) He also invented carbonated water. He discovered that, while mice would suffocate in a closed space, plants did not die under such conditions, and that plants made unbreathable air breathable again. With the help of Franklin, he devised the idea of the symbiotic relationship between plants and animals, each providing the other with what they need to continue living. (Plants provide breathable oxygen for animals; animals convert it back to carbon dioxide for plants to use in photosynthesis.) In theology, Priestley was a Unitarian who wished to cast aside the supernatural aspect of Christianity. It was Priestley’s writings that inspired Jefferson to edit out the accounts of the miracles from the Gospels. Priestley was also an advocate for the free flow of ideas unencumbered by financial obligation. He never patented his carbonation idea, and while many others profited from it, he never did.
Priestley was a major contributor to the philosophical and cultural movement we call the Enlightenment, a period of time suffused with the belief that reliance on the analysis of evidence, and the use of reason and logic, could guide all citizens to a happy life free of superstition. From such a statement, it’s not a great leap to recognize that the philosophy of the Enlightenment would have political implications—and that these political implications are what would ultimately cause Priestley to be driven from his native land.
I was struck by a particular quote of Priestley from the book:
The English hierarchy (if there be anything unsound in its constitution) has equal reason to tremble at an air pump, or an electrical machine.
That is, that scientific discovery and the process of science threaten those who hold power by weight of mere tradition or superstition. Nowadays, we can add ideology to that list. When I first read this quote, it was not long after Trump silenced the Park Service and other science-based government agencies. No free flow of ideas here. Is it any wonder why Trump is so threatened by science?
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I take it as a given (naive scientist that I am) that governments of modern societies seek to make the best, most efficient and humane decisions they can for the greatest number of people. The decisions of such governments must be based on reliable data and robust models for predicting the effect of particular policy proposals in the the short term, at least. The scientific method, the gift of the Enlightenment, gave us the tools necessary to obtain facts and data, to evaluate and analyze them, and to construct models which allow for reliable predictions to be made. A government would have to be insane to want to upend this process, or to hobble the scientific process. Yet this is where we are in US right now. Evidence and reason are at a disadvantage among those in charge of policy-making right now, because they’re either ideologues or just plain insane. Climate change is an obvious and long-standing example here, but it’s not the only one.
Fortunately, it’s not that easy to get scientists to shut up, and there are an awful lot of people who like their government to make decisions based on actual facts. They like it that there are smart experts who can guide politician to the best possible policies. They like it when bureaucrats write regulations to ban pesticides that harm children’s nervous systems or kill entire bee colonies. They like having policies that assure them of clean air to breath and clean drinking water. They like not having their waterways polluted by oil spills or coal ash runoff.
Today was the day for scientists and those who support the scientific enterprise get out to deliver a message to the politicians currently in control: Do not ignore verifiable fact! Do not lie to us and call the lies “alternative facts”! Pay attention to bona fide experts who have proven their worth in reducing harm and keeping us safe. Do not hobble scientific research by cutting funding in order to provide funds for a wall that will ultimately be utterly ineffective in its stated goal, a goal that displays lack of all humanity (and by the way, wasn’t somebody else supposed to pay for that wall?). (And now the Trump administration is reneging on paying out already-allocated grant money dedicated to researching clean energy technology.) Trump’s Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, is seeking to undermine renewable energy by falsely claiming such sources undermine the grid. How much more of this can the nation stand? Do not imperil the nation by trashing a system of decision-making that has been used successfully by governments run by both parties for decades. Stop behaving like crazy people!
This is why we marched today. Unfortunately, when I say “we” here, I’m not speaking personally. Because of a promise I made, I was unable to join the march today in any of its venues, but I was there in spirit. Since this was written two days ago, I can’t verify that the March for Science produced huge crowds to swamp the Mall in Washington and the streets of hundreds of other cities around the world, but because I believe in the power of science to inspire all people, I’ll assume it did. I’ll also conjecture that if Joseph Priestley were still around, he’d be at the head of the march.
Now, on to the comments!
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From belinda ridgewood:
There was lots of discussion in today's APR (by Greg Dworkin) of signs to carry in the science march, but DRo may have won with this comment.
From BeninSC:
map and foresterbob are testing the Picture Quilt algorithm! With this comment and this one! (And less explicitly, no doubt, in other comments!) Here’s hoping we figure it out!
Highlighted by itzwitchy:
Is this fine comment by mahakali overdrive on the role Obama STILL plays in personal optimism. From itzwitchy’s (deservedly rec-listed diary) on Obama’s return to the fight.
Top Mojo ala mik!
For Thursday, April 21, 2017, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on the subject.
2017-04-21, courtesy of jotter!