Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Big Money and Big Science

'The Tragedy of American Science' by Clifford D. Conner is a book that lays bare how the direction of science is determined by private profit rather than by the desire to improve the human condition. 

Connor exposes Big Science which has been irredeemably corrupted by Big Money and which threatens the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the medicines we take.

 The U.S. economy is addicted to military spending and it distorts and deforms science by making it overwhelmingly subservient to military interests. The primary motive driving American science and technology has become the search for new and more efficient ways to kill people. 

This transforms science from the classic ideal of a creative force for the advancement of humankind into its destructive and antihuman opposite. That those trillions of dollars in resources and scientific talent are not devoted to solving the problems of poverty, disease, and environmental destruction is one of the greatest tragedies of our times.

 Conner compellingly argues that replacing the current science-for-profit system with a science-for-human-needs system is not an impossible, utopian dream. The Tragedy of American Science makes a strong case for freeing science from the fetters of capital and rededicating it for the good of humanity. 

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