Science for Sale!

I couldn't help myself but I thought this musical accompaniment by the Talking Heads to be just too appropriate!


The corruption of science is one that I take quite personally as well as find to be extremely disappointing to say the least. Science as a practice is about the ordering of knowledge not the the tool to be used by vested interests to persuade the public on certain social-economic-politcal issues. In this regard science is co-opted by sophistry in order to win arguemnets and persuade. It is no longer used as a means to ascertain the truth of a subject of inquiry. In this regard it becomes a seething blight upon the whole of the subject, well beyond the measure of an honest mistake that any person or scientist could make. To begin, lets us take a cursory examination of the subject of global warming. If you have been following this topic, as if you could avoid it, you could easily walk away from a discourse with the average person either confused or not the much wiser to say the least. Perhaps you have heard many of the arguements presented by the so called skeptics on the topic. But wait a second, aside from the skepticism that is the usual practice of research there appears to be more than just scientists practising their usual business:Exxon spends millions to cast doubt on warming! So for a topic that is immensly complicated and very specialized here we have a vested interest intentionally muddying the waters of an already complex topic. The question one must ask regarding the topic is simple: WHY? Why is a major oil company paying to cast doubt on the topic?

For my own liking, I think I'll go ahead and give the credence to The Federation of American Scientists on this topic. BTW, that site is quite a resource in trying to wrap your mind around the topic. Either way, we are going to find out who is correct sooner or later. My guess is it is going to be sooner than most think!

But the corruption of science doesn't stop there! On this week's Living On Earth, actually a good use of public funds IMHO, the topic of global warming and conflicts of interest is addressed in the show titled:AN INCONVENIENT CONTROVERSY. You can dowlaod and listen to the show from the link! No matter your persuasion, this topic is a serious one and we certainly do not need vested interests and opportunists muddying of the waters of this complicated topic. Thanks for your contributions to humanity, JERKS!

But hey it gets even better! According to an American Journal of Industrial Medicine article it seems that the ties between science and industry can have an effect on the outcome and conclusions of research! From SpinWatch: Secret ties to industry and conflicting interests in cancer research. You can also listen to the Living on Earth broadcast from a couple of weeks ago titled:Conflicting Interests. The article outlines how Monsanto, the wonderful company that brought such products such as hebacides,'terminator seeds', and as outlined by the article, Vinyl chloride. Yes, their greatest consern is the bottom line, why should a few lives get in the way of that!

So be warned all you would be scientists of the world, corruption can seep into any human endeavor because, well we are all human after all. The real problem is cleaning up the mess created by those who are willing to corrupt in order to garner influence and profit. In the case of science, we all risk losing valuable researches and discoveries that some would prefer to keep from the public at large. They gain at our detriment! Once again, thanks for your contributions to humanity, JERKS!