Our Revered Scientists

Scientific and engineering progress are often sited as ways we will get ourselves out of our problems with oil, fuel, etc.  So of course we greatly admire and revere our scientists and engineers:  right?

What would the world look like if this were the case?

Fortunately there is the parallel alter-Earth known as Planet-Onion to help us out with this one:

Stephen Jay Gould Speaks Out Against Science Paparazzi

August 22, 2001 | ISSUE 37•29

"The time has come to place limits on these photographers," said Gould, speaking from Harvard University, where he is a professor of geology and zoology. "They are disrupting my life, as well as those of my colleagues, my family, and my friends." ...

Members of the paparazzi say they are merely responding to public demand, providing a service to the millions of Americans who closely follow the careers of the world's top physicists, mathematicians, and botanists.

"In this country, people want to know about scientific discoveries the minute they happen," said New Haven-based freelance photographer Lance Evans. "It's only natural that the public would be interested in the personal lives of the men and women behind these discoveries." ...

"If it weren't for all this publicity, it's possible that far fewer people would support our work," Heeger said. "We scientists could actually be in the position of needing to scrape pennies together to complete our vitally important research."

Diehard science fan Jill Krause agreed.

"These scientists are the most important people in America," Krause said. "Our very future depends on them. They are enabling us to live longer and better, discovering the history of the planet we live on, and unraveling the mysteries of the universe. There's no way we'd ever let them work in obscurity. It's laughable."   ht MR