AMAZING 1972 article by a big hero of mine, Bill Zimmerman seen at the recent DPA conference in LA - Sad/Inspiring how applicable this is 40 years later. He presents a tough challenge in a vital conversation. - HEADINGS: Science In Capitalist America, Science Is Political, What Is To Be Done?, Political Organizing In The Health Fields, postscript: Censorship by Science - "In the 15th century Leonardo da Vinci refused to publish plans for a submarine, because he anticipated that it would be used as a weapon. In the 17th century, for similar reasons, Boyle kept secret a poison he had developed. In 1946 Leo Szilard, who had been one of the key developers of the atomic bomb, quit physics in disillusionment over the ways in which the government had used his work. By and large this kind of resistance on the part of scientists to the misuse of their research has been very sporadic, from isolated individuals, and generally in opposition only to particular, unusually repugnant projects. As such it has been ineffective. If scientists want to help prevent socially destructive applications of science, they must forego acting in an ad hoc or purely moralistic fashion and begin to respond collectively from the vantage point of a political and economic analysis of their work. This analysis must be firmly anchored in an understanding of the American corporate state. " - "[The article] is an important position in the debate over the objectives and public responsibilities of science which Science magazine has been encouraging for several years, with many major articles supporting opposite points of view....If it is not published in Science, it would mean that Science is not representing the full spectrum of opinion in the scientific community, and would drive this whole segment of opinion to other media or "underground" "
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 22:15:01 +0000
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