I know it sounds impossible, but my assessment of her went down another notch. PZ's got the details.I may be a (hopefully intelligent) layperson when it comes to biology, but even I know that fruit flies have contributed much to our knowledge of genetics and such. Even when it's pure research, you never know what that knowledge could eventually lead you to.
3 comments:
I'll be glad when the election is over because hopefully we'll stop hearing about Palin. I'd personally be happy if she went back to Alaska and I never had to see or hear the woman again.
Off-topic, you've been tagged for a blog meme.
I've been told that a lot of Republican voters think that, if McCain loses this time, Palin should run for President next election. So we probably won't.
What are these blog meme things, and should I ever bother caring about them?
This whole thing reminded me of something I read some time ago (forget where) which explained in detail why a government that says "scientific research needs to focus on exactly this technology" is foolish. Namely it showed how we wouldn't have modern things like telecommunication and everything that stems from that if not for Maxwell's "pure science" research on electromagnetism. There's no way people way back then could have just said "scientists, focus entirely on making boxes that show images of the queen and project her voice anywhere in the kingdom".
Actually I think I read it in one of Carl Sagan's books. Point is, "pure research" not controlled by political drives are not just important for the advancement of knowledge (reason enough to fund it if you ask me) but also can all lead in totally unpredictable directions which can all benefit "the average person" directly.
Post a Comment