Friday, 2 June 95
Washington,DC
1. WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT "THE FLIGHT FROM
SCIENCE AND REASON"?
The embrace of irrationalism in
academic disciplines ranging from literature and history to
anthropology has been explored for the past three days at a
conference sponsored by the New York Academy of
Sciences. The postmodern view is that there is no such
thing as objective truth: Science is a product of the power
structure it serves, and scientific "laws" would come out
differently in a different culture. A platoon of distinguished
academics lamented the spread of this corrosive notion
and recounted examples of the foolishness it engenders,
but there were few proposals for how to deal with the
problem. How can you debate someone who denies the
existence of objective reality? In contrast to the gray-haired
speakers, there was a significant representation of
under-thirty social scientists in the audience. It seemed
clear that not one of them believed a single word of what
was being said.
2. THE FLIGHT FROM SCIENCE AND REASON LANDED
IN ALEXANDRIA, VA.
, where the First International
Conference on Alternative Medicine was held last week.
There were sessions on everything from shark cartilage to
shamanic healing. Therapeutic touch is my favorite; it may
sound kinky, but the only thing the therapist touches is your
aura. I've never seen one, but apparently auras stick out. A
man is reportedly suing a midwestern hospital after a
careless biofield therapist, working on a patient in the next
bed, scooped some of the negative energy from that
patient's aura onto him.
3. ASTEROID PROTECTION IS EXPENSIVE, NO MATTER
HOW YOU SLICE IT!
A giant Veg-A-Matic, launched on a
Russian Energia, is the latest
Wood-Teller idea for chopping up asteroids. Someone
else at last week's Planetary Defense Workshop proposed
huge solar sails to drag asteroids off course. But nukes
remain the weapon of choice, as they were at the 1992
workshop (WN 6 Mar 92). Edward Teller, again the featured
speaker, declared that nuclear methods would have a 70%
chance of success. He was given a standing ovation. Of
course, it might be a good idea to check to see if anything is
coming our way before we build a defense. The only
casualty from a meteorite in recorded history was a
Chevrolet. According to the Tri Valley Herald, the lab
considered holding the meeting in secret to avoid the image
of bomb builders looking for work.
4. PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CELL
BIOLOGISTS COMMENTS
on congressional support for
science. In a reference to WN's report on passage of the
Hatfield Amendment (WN 26 May 95), Ursula
Goodenough endorsed the sentiment that "Every inflamed
prostate gland is a vote for health research" even, she
observes, "as for many decades every inflamed
anti-communist in Congress was a vote for physics
research. We'll only be where we want to be when
Congress funds scientific research because its members
realize that what we're learning is so fascinating." We
completely agree.
THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (Note: Opinions are
the author's and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.)
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