Science gurus?- Tim Flannery
A lot can be learned from those who dance the tune the pipers are playing .
The ABC need to do a poll of experienced practical scientists ( the ones we want to grow more of) and see what they think of this man's attempts to represent them ! I know he's "popular", but maybe thats part of the problem? (Take his popular but highly suspect preoocupation with the population problem that plays up to popular predjudice and uses the sort of simplistic ecological analogies that give complex symbotic science a bad name . )
The carelessness that often characterizes Tims talks is more symbolic of our times than Jones in the MPC stakes .. He seems so busy trying to move us somewhere quickly that he is happy to employ any technical sub scientific( short circuits) means to move us there . He uses and confuses science and technology in a way which is unfortunately all too common in our culture . I Just read another wandering feast by one by Lawrence Money which teels us little new about Tim ( except that his passion began as a childish one) but allows him to wander across every other scientist's territory with the applom characteristic of emperors . The Biologists with philosophical bent , in particular, are serial offenders here . I wonder why?
Typical of many MPC's he's more focused on the goal than he is on the means he uses to get there .
Typical of many MPC's he's promoting short term gain, long term pain .
Sustainable solutions, once discovered, don't need to be propped up .
They may need , going on the evidence all around us , protection from whiteanting by fearmongers and mere number , fact and fad crunchers who wannabe in the media .
The ABC need to do a poll of experienced practical scientists ( the ones we want to grow more of) and see what they think of this man's attempts to represent them ! I know he's "popular", but maybe thats part of the problem? (Take his popular but highly suspect preoocupation with the population problem that plays up to popular predjudice and uses the sort of simplistic ecological analogies that give complex symbotic science a bad name . )
The carelessness that often characterizes Tims talks is more symbolic of our times than Jones in the MPC stakes .. He seems so busy trying to move us somewhere quickly that he is happy to employ any technical sub scientific( short circuits) means to move us there . He uses and confuses science and technology in a way which is unfortunately all too common in our culture . I Just read another wandering feast by one by Lawrence Money which teels us little new about Tim ( except that his passion began as a childish one) but allows him to wander across every other scientist's territory with the applom characteristic of emperors . The Biologists with philosophical bent , in particular, are serial offenders here . I wonder why?
Typical of many MPC's he's more focused on the goal than he is on the means he uses to get there .
Typical of many MPC's he's promoting short term gain, long term pain .
Sustainable solutions, once discovered, don't need to be propped up .
They may need , going on the evidence all around us , protection from whiteanting by fearmongers and mere number , fact and fad crunchers who wannabe in the media .
Perhaps Lawrence Money should do an investigative piece for the Age?
ReplyDelete"Are our Science Gurus part of the problem or part of the solution to the Science brain drain ? Could include Sir Gustav Nossal whose influence in reforming DSE - DPI is not evident ?