Re: Why I won't support the March for Science

Like any of the disciplines, professions or institutions whereby society shapes itself, that thing called science is worth struggling over. And never was there a better chance to do it than now! I agreee with Peter Lunenfeld, and with David Garcia's remarks on Karl Popper. Those who support a

Re: Why I won't support the March for Science

Exactly what I was thinking, Peter. I marched on Saturday as well because I'd prefer that not only my kids have a planet to live on, but one that has not seen even worse crises of displacement thanks to drought and famine. I'd like to not see more and more immigrants rounded up an put into

Re: Why I won't support the March for Science

On 24 April 2017 at 06:25, Prem Chandavarkar wrote: Having said that, Nagel refuses to allow the pendulum to swing to the other extreme of total relativism, one has to build on the utility of the objective viewpoint in order to make a complete

Re: Why I won't support the March for Science

> What it really needed for me to believe in the efficacy of science as a > political force ... When this event was advertised on a departmental mailing list here in Edinburgh, it was specifically described to be "non-political". That struck me as at best nonsensical but at the same time oddly

The meaning of Macron (short answer: Tocqueville in France)

The Nordic countries' and Germany's social democratic parties have interestingly enough often been accused of "selling out to the neoliberal world order" but were the only ones in Europe to withhold the populist storm of the past 20 years while even often remaining or having gained

Re: Why I won't support the March for Science

Salaried scientists, as any other salaried group, are mostly functional cowards. As it was mentioned in a recent thread, there is a substantial difference between "networks of practice" and "communities of practice". It sounds silly, but the time has come when we need Kickstarter-based

Re: Why I won't support the March for Science

This is nicely put. And your point about context is especially apt. It's comparable—though not identical—to the liberal misunderstanding which attempts to substitute "All lives matter" for "Black lives matter." The matter is context: Science is systematically under attack as Black people are

Re: Why I won't support the March for Science

Dear Eric, Florian et al. -- I marched on Saturday, and I supported marching on Saturday. I see the complaints about the the M4S as driven by a quest for ideological purity. That's what I've been reading on , The Root and elsewhere about the march and its intentional separation from other forms

Re: the meaning of Macron (short answer: Tocqueville in France)

Dear Alexander and All, your spot-on remarks (!) make me wonder about the future of social democracy, something Castells pondered in a recent editorial: mediterranean socialist parties seem on the verge of disappearing (e.g. France, Greece, Spain), but what about SPD and other Northern European

Re: Why I won't support the March for Science

On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 4:37 AM David Garcia wrote: 3) Just as opposition against Trump creates false solidarity with neoliberals, opposition against climate change-denying, creationist etc. politics can create false solidarity with a Popperian

Re: the meaning of Macron (short answer: Tocqueville in France)

Excellent analysis, Alex! But Emmanuel Macron should best be compared with Canada's Justin Trudeau rather than any current American politician (though as a pragmatist liberal he is ideologically in line with the Obamas, both previous president Barack and possible forthcoming Michelle). Pete

Re: Why I won't support the March for Science

It is a problem when an issue is polarised across two extremes without exploring some substantive middle ground. Am reading Thomas Nagel, whose views are quite useful on this subject. He argues that the objective viewpoint that science prescribes is extremely useful, but if you extend this

Re: Why I won't support the March for Science

Similar sentiment - in fact I am all for ‘alternative facts’, just different alternatives than the ones the Trump posse is proposing… -e. > On 23 Apr 2017, at 18:54, Florian Cramer wrote: > > Why I won't support the 'March for Science':* > > > 1) The central demand of the

Re: Why I won't support the March for Science

Nagel says in The View from Nowhere, “What really happens in the pursuit of objectivity is that a certain element of oneself, the impersonal or objective self, which can escape from the specific contingencies of one’s creaturely point of view, is allowed to predominate. Withdrawing into

Re: Why I won't support the March for Science

I agree here with , Morlock. The March for Science is not the problem. Science is knowledge, learning, knowing. The problem is corporate and privatized research agenda governing the direction of flows; the problem is science being made real if that's what serves capitalism. It's gone on forever

After the Californian Ideology: [ was Phillips/Beyer/Coleman: "false

On 2017-04-21 11:19, Florian Cramer wrote: > The bigger question lurking behind this is a critical analysis of > (cyber-) libertarianism, which was at the root of Nettime. The > question is whether the "Californian ideology" has, twenty years > after its first description, mutated into several

the meaning of Macron (short answer: Tocqueville in France)

the French have chosen a liberal to ward off the fascist threat (patriotism vs nationalism this is how the youthful ex banker ex economic minister puts it). it is a paradoxical outcome a year after Nuit Debout protests, which have propelled mélenchon to a great score (and socialist hamon to a