Science and Morality

I have previously opined that disputes in economics are often more about morality than evidence. Those attracted to purely free market economics usually seem to be motivated more by fear of government than by evidence of efficiency. Conversely, those who argue for more government intervention, like Krugman, are motivated to a significant extent by belief in the immorality of certain government actions or in-actions.

It wasn't previously obvious to me, but a recent fit of hysteria by one of my anti-government acquaintances made it clear to me that the same is true for many seemingly value-free scientific disputes. A bishop feared to look through Galileo's telescope, because he feared that what he saw might shake his faith, and Galileo was imprisoned for the content of his physics. Bruno and many others suffered far worse fates.

Even today, social conservatives continue to wage a fierce battle against evolution not because they know (or care) anything about the evidence, but because they fear, quite correctly, that evolution undermines faith. Communists had a similar beef with Darwin, for a very similar reason, his ideas undermined their official Marxist dogma. Leftists in the seventies, and perhaps still, wage a similar battle against evolutionary psychology and studies of links between IQ and other traits (especially race). In every case, the core motive is the same - scientific discoveries have the potential to undermine dogma.

So it is with global warming. Environmentalists have been quick to associate the movement against global warming science with special interests like Exxon Mobile and the coal industry, and that association is perfectly valid, but that's not the fire that burns in the hearts of the true (dis)believers. Their religion is fear of the governmental and super-governmental authorities needed to implement realistic action to prevent human caused climate change. Once again science is up against fundamental moral instincts.

One of the most obvious evidences is the puny quality of the arguments advanced against anthropogenic global warming. One day it's some obscure statistical critique of one minor data point, the next it's a fanciful theory of cosmic rays or an obviously nonsensical argument based on the height of the troposphere. For a scientist, internal coherence of your ideas is crucial. The moralist on the defensive picks up any stick, club or fluffy throw pillow that comes to mind.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anti-Libertarian: re-post

The most pointed critique of social security and liberalism in general is the libertarian critique. The problem with libertarians, for a liberal, is that we have too much in common. We both believe in individual rights, tolerance of individual differences, and dislike government prescription of religion. The basic difference, it seems to me, is the different answers we give to Cain's (with thanks to the Captain - my original version had the corpse asking the question!) famous question: "Am I my brother's keeper?" That's not really my basic bitch against the libertarians though. My real complaint is the same as my complaint against most religion - its premise is a fraud. For those who can't stand to wait for the punchline, I believe that trying to implement libertarian principles leads to tyranny or social disintegration. Demonstrating that takes some historical (and pre-historical) context. For all but the last 15,000 or so of the 100,000 years the human spec
Read more

Uneasy Lies The Head

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown ........... Shakespeare Henry IV, Part II. So it is with us and our slightly distant primate cousins , so it seems. A 9-year study of wild baboons in Kenya by Princeton University and the Institute of Primate Research may turn conventional assumptions of alphas males upside down. The study found that alpha males have high testosterone levels, which allows them to dominate other baboons, get access to more food, and attract better mates. This is expected. Surprisingly, though, the alpha males also have high levels of stress hormone glucocorticoid, which scientists measured from their feces samples. In fact, the stress of alpha baboons was on par with low-ranking baboons. The convention wisdom is that access to food and females provides life security and thus less stress for dominant males. Conversely, weak males who are constantly threatened by starvation and physical violence from stronger males are thought to be more stressed. The st
Read more

We Call it Soccer

The US played its best, and maybe only good game of World Cup, but lost thanks to brilliant goalkeeping by the Swedish keeper and the bizarre method soccer uses to settle ties when three US stars could not put the ball on frame from the 12 yard spot.  At the end it came down to a blocked shot that spun in by maybe a couple of centimeters. Well, that's football - too much like life.   Which brings me to a modest proposal.  Replace the thirty minute overtimes with as many 7-player 15 minute periods as needed to settle it.  Scoring should be much easier with fewer players.
Read more