What follows is a letter to the editor I sent to Adbusters Magazine.
In the article “Science For Sale” (Adbusters #58), Chris Tenove attacks the scientific community, declaring throughout the article that they, the scientists, are unprincipled money hoarders that care nothing for truth or discovery.
Chris goes so far as to say that scientists make silly claims, like how the universe is made up of strings. He compares this with religion, saying that although it’s claims are equally fantastic, they are at least understandable. Everyone can understand what we mean when we talk about Jesus walking on water. But strings? Material is made up of mostly nothing? Chris clearly can’t believe it, as it goes against common sense. As though common sense is ever common, or ever makes sense.
Chris seems to expect to understand advanced scientific theory, that took a community of the brightest minds hundreds of years to construct. This is like trying to understand the insides of computers; how ones and zeros make text, pictures, sounds, and videos. It takes years of study to design or understand the minute details of modern computers. It’s just the same with the physical sciences, and most other fields of study.
But just because the author of this article can’t understand it, we’re supposed to chalk it up to nonsense. Chris’ prejudice towards science is very clear. The article tries to prove that scientists can be sold to the highest bidder. Ironically, every example Chris can drag up disproves the title of the article! Chris says that universities are greedily making money off of government patents, but then talks about corporations making money off those patents. Chris says that scientists can be bought, and then tells us a story about Dr. Nancy Olivieri who lost her job instead of bowing to pressure—and money—from the pharmaceutical industry. Every example disproves Chris’ thesis. In fact, it seems the culprit is corporate America; specifically, the pharmaceutical industry.
Chris does, however, admit that the over generalizations he makes are false: It turns out that it’s only a minority of scientists that sell their souls to the corporations. In this way scientists aren’t different than any other group of people. I have to then ask, what’s all the fuss about? Why was Chris attacking all of science and insulting all scientists because of a few people who were paid for by the pharmaceuticals?
Shawn's Humanist Blog 