Scientists as both experts and political myth-makers
Experts wield increasing power in western societies. Roger Pielke Jr. shows how this is boosting our dysfunctional political polarization.
experts
An anthropologist announces the fall of the liberal professional class
Summary: Part three concludes anthropologist Maximilian Forte’s series about the death of liberalism. Here he looks at the fall of the liberal professional class. A well-deserved fall, with incalculable consequences. “I would rather be governed by the first two thousand people in the Boston telephone directory than by the two thousand people on the faculty of …
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Did Robert Heinlein in 1961 predict the fall of the Soviet Union? Lessons learned from this.
Summary: Our past can help us to better understand our present. The ills of the present didn’t just appear, and often can be seen more clearly in the past — such as our penchant for believing fables. This post has it all: a great story about Robert Heinlein’s astonishing prescience, the Evil Empire, demographic collapse, …
Will our geopolitical “experts “lead us to ruin?
Summary: Yesterday’s introduction by Tom Engelhardt explained how we follow experts with records of almost continuous failures, but are surprised by the logical result. Today Andrew Bacevich takes this logic one step deeper, asking about the role of intellectuals in setting America’s geopolitical strategy — which has been one of increasing belligerence and militarization during …
Will our geopolitical “experts “lead us to ruin? Read More »
How to Create a National Insecurity State.
Summary: An essential part of leaning as citizens is learning on whom to rely. We don’t do this well, an important part of the FAILure to learn which has imperiled the Republic. Today Tom Engelhard — editor of the invaluable website TomDispatch — shows how since 9/11 a coterie of always-wrong experts have helped build the …