Not sure why but it seems the administration and the people running our country have made huge strides in rolling back our belief in science and applying the science we learn to solve our life issues. The things we used to accept as making our lives better and healthier are now being questioned not with rigor and reasoning, always a healthy way to approach something new and different, they are now being scrutinized with bias and myth if not dismissed out of hand as fabricated untruths to take advantage of the credulous. Donald Trump seems to have found the key to taking advantage of this recent resurgence of scientific skepticism with his MAGA supporters. Honestly I think that Donald Trump is the modern incarnation of a Witch Doctor, pitching lies and innuendo with a little woods magic thrown in to keep his followers inline and managed, and as needed thunderingly shouting down perceived opposition to frighten and intimidate. I don’t think Donald believes in science he only makes whatever use of it that he can to his advantage not believing any of it.
The administration he has assembled around him is supporting and promoting him in defunding science through government.
The NIH, the CDC membership in the WHO all severely minimized and defunded;
Education and civic involvement are the foundation of a working democracy whose citizens feel empowered and supported by their government because they are a part of the government as well as the governed. Trump’s administration has a mandate to insure that the people of the US are unable to become well educated and civically involved because they understand this will cause them to lose control.
Conversely to reclaim the mandate of a fruitful, productive and entitled population, if we are able to get beyond this current administration we need to better implement building an inclusive educated population one that respects our cultural diversity here in the US and all of the rest of the world, accepting and respecting our neighbors here in the US and around the world. We need to embrace that a secure and happy life isn’t simply a job, a home and a comfortable income, but also involvement in how we are governed, too many of us are looking around to find someone who we can hand off the responsibility of governing us.
Our recent choices have been poor and we have become too uninvolved in our self government.
Another great essay! Very complimentary to your earlier one about contraction in science.
Messaging and rhetoric cannot outrun contraction in resources. Sure, there are areas that can be streamlined, but if you make the incentives for innovation incredibly limited, how can we attract the talent and proposals that are going to create “innovative” science?
The people in power at NIH right now believe that investigators should decide what science ideas to submit and that NIH should not be in the business of suggesting gap areas. Full stop. Conservatives argue that scientists at the NIH are less capable of identifying groundbreaking science than the free market or some such logic. That is an incredibly short-sighted and fallacious either/or thinking. We need a mix of investigator initiated science along with prioritized calls for innovation. This debate connects in some ways to another of my essays where I try to debunk the libertarian ideas about how science should be funded and prioritized: https://substack.com/@elizabethginexi/p-187404630
Besides the overall libertarian rationale, I wonder if there is a darker, more specific motive behind some of this as well. Dr. Ginexi notes that NOFOs are partly intended to correct the underfunding of research into health problems of underserved populations. That must look at lot like DEI to far right ideologues. It would be interesting to see qualitatively which proposals, addressing the health problems of which underserved populations, disproportionately do not make it out of the limbo of political approval. It could be racial. It might also reflect the Ayn Rand-inspired belief that disease serves to weed out the weak, which seemed to inform some early ideas about managing Covid, for example in Britain. Enhanced disgust around disease and handicap observed in authoritarian personality might also limit sympathy for diseases that afflict few.
Right now the sampling of rejected NOFOs in the database is too small to make firm conclusions. Also, keep in mind that many ideas for NOFOs will never make it into the queue anymore. That is where most of the so-called “DEI” related concepts are right now. They don’t make it beyond the first hurdle. So, yes, this extended NOFO approval process is serves to control the types of science that is allowed, and to be sure, research related to minority populations will suffer.
Russell Vought wants to kneecap the NIH. It's hard to know why, but he has stated his intentions to execute an overhaul of the agency. And so, here we are. Tragic.
Not sure why but it seems the administration and the people running our country have made huge strides in rolling back our belief in science and applying the science we learn to solve our life issues. The things we used to accept as making our lives better and healthier are now being questioned not with rigor and reasoning, always a healthy way to approach something new and different, they are now being scrutinized with bias and myth if not dismissed out of hand as fabricated untruths to take advantage of the credulous. Donald Trump seems to have found the key to taking advantage of this recent resurgence of scientific skepticism with his MAGA supporters. Honestly I think that Donald Trump is the modern incarnation of a Witch Doctor, pitching lies and innuendo with a little woods magic thrown in to keep his followers inline and managed, and as needed thunderingly shouting down perceived opposition to frighten and intimidate. I don’t think Donald believes in science he only makes whatever use of it that he can to his advantage not believing any of it.
The administration he has assembled around him is supporting and promoting him in defunding science through government.
The NIH, the CDC membership in the WHO all severely minimized and defunded;
https://www.christenseninstitute.org/blog/what-will-happen-now-that-the-us-is-withdrawing-from-the-world-health-organization/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22404177831&gbraid=0AAAAADsapT_sT1vEcSHjd2CwwUds43B20&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9-PNBhDfARIsABHN6-0CMrJRTm89wocg1zFYdyaxRX3TUW5JOsWcGUO7ixNPI-IldCcHJCEaAunOEALw_wcB
https://persuasion1.substack.com/p/medical-research-is-hopelessly-caught?r=6mvkk9&utm_medium=ios
Education and civic involvement are the foundation of a working democracy whose citizens feel empowered and supported by their government because they are a part of the government as well as the governed. Trump’s administration has a mandate to insure that the people of the US are unable to become well educated and civically involved because they understand this will cause them to lose control.
Undermining and de-emphasizing education
https://thefulcrum.us/civic-engagement-education/department-of-education?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23040874977&gbraid=0AAAAAoNgHgpUrQ3lCPi627ZKTVjRxJo8N&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9-PNBhDfARIsABHN6-2WRPa1i9U6I8gul8SXC--3QTaWpo8bSO5yNxnlrM9lKZ3ZI2B3fM8aAtCeEALw_wcB
Conversely to reclaim the mandate of a fruitful, productive and entitled population, if we are able to get beyond this current administration we need to better implement building an inclusive educated population one that respects our cultural diversity here in the US and all of the rest of the world, accepting and respecting our neighbors here in the US and around the world. We need to embrace that a secure and happy life isn’t simply a job, a home and a comfortable income, but also involvement in how we are governed, too many of us are looking around to find someone who we can hand off the responsibility of governing us.
Our recent choices have been poor and we have become too uninvolved in our self government.
Another great essay! Very complimentary to your earlier one about contraction in science.
Messaging and rhetoric cannot outrun contraction in resources. Sure, there are areas that can be streamlined, but if you make the incentives for innovation incredibly limited, how can we attract the talent and proposals that are going to create “innovative” science?
The people in power at NIH right now believe that investigators should decide what science ideas to submit and that NIH should not be in the business of suggesting gap areas. Full stop. Conservatives argue that scientists at the NIH are less capable of identifying groundbreaking science than the free market or some such logic. That is an incredibly short-sighted and fallacious either/or thinking. We need a mix of investigator initiated science along with prioritized calls for innovation. This debate connects in some ways to another of my essays where I try to debunk the libertarian ideas about how science should be funded and prioritized: https://substack.com/@elizabethginexi/p-187404630
Besides the overall libertarian rationale, I wonder if there is a darker, more specific motive behind some of this as well. Dr. Ginexi notes that NOFOs are partly intended to correct the underfunding of research into health problems of underserved populations. That must look at lot like DEI to far right ideologues. It would be interesting to see qualitatively which proposals, addressing the health problems of which underserved populations, disproportionately do not make it out of the limbo of political approval. It could be racial. It might also reflect the Ayn Rand-inspired belief that disease serves to weed out the weak, which seemed to inform some early ideas about managing Covid, for example in Britain. Enhanced disgust around disease and handicap observed in authoritarian personality might also limit sympathy for diseases that afflict few.
Right now the sampling of rejected NOFOs in the database is too small to make firm conclusions. Also, keep in mind that many ideas for NOFOs will never make it into the queue anymore. That is where most of the so-called “DEI” related concepts are right now. They don’t make it beyond the first hurdle. So, yes, this extended NOFO approval process is serves to control the types of science that is allowed, and to be sure, research related to minority populations will suffer.
How Gilead of the NIH.
So many steps backwards - what a shame!
One of America’s great strengths and yet they are kneecapping it? Doesn’t make sense on any level
Russell Vought wants to kneecap the NIH. It's hard to know why, but he has stated his intentions to execute an overhaul of the agency. And so, here we are. Tragic.