On Wednesday, 12 de February de 2003 23:47, you wrote: > http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opinterview.jsp?id=ns23811 >
Magueijo may seem to be going too far on the scientific establishment for an anglo-saxon. But for a fellow portuguese with the same critique, as magueijo is a portuguese natural living in England his opinions seem rather tame. Portuguese academia is state suported for more than 800 years, it has become a corporative octopus where the intelligentsia families take the same department positions, year after year, century after century. Our former fascist dictator was an economics professor (wich he didn't really understand...). All the physical sciences have long been despised and only the engineering departments have some reputation. But only has providers of technocrats, more apt to manage people than to create or invent... With 1974 Revolution, many returning scientists expected for a change. It hasn't happened. There are now laboratories in Portugal, better equiped than those in France, England or the USA, but with no technicians or experts to work with the machines... The university departments have become expert at gaining funds from international bodies but because of labirintic admission policies and vested interests the money and equipment disapear or are forgotten. Articles of no quality are published and there are people who never have written original work with page long curriculum's... Everything that could go wrong in academia and science is in Portugal. That is the background Magueijo comes from... But, it is not only in Portugal... Everywhere science has declined, as it becomes part of the political logic of governments, ideologies and power groups... There is a NEED for destructive purification in today's science. Popularization of science should not be taken as the stupid adoration of uncompreensible speeches from the so called "great popularisers of science". Does the common man read his Hawking's book? Did Hawking even write it? Everybody should be a tinkerer and a scientist at heart!! Or at least have an honest and decent oportunity to be one!!! Yours faithfully, Andr� Esteves
