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Bless Ed Yong:
"Covering long Covid solidified my view that science is not the objective, neutral force it is often misconstrued as. It is instead a human endeavor, relentlessly buffeted by our culture, values and politics. As energy-depleting illnesses that disproportionately affect women, long Covid and M.E./C.F.S. are easily belittled by a sexist society that trivializes women’s pain, and a capitalist one that values people according to their productivity."
“science is not the objective, neutral force it is often misconstrued as. It is instead a human endeavor, relentlessly buffeted by our culture, values and politics.”
This is true, but the only appropriate response is to do science better and more rigorously, while it seems most people are ready to just give up on science.
In this my view of science is much like Churchill’s view of democracy: ‘the worst system, except for all the others’
@DavidM_yeg @unicorndeburgh I don’t think the author and similar thinkers want to abandon science. My view, at least, is that we should be more cognisant of the limits of science.
Agreed. That’s why I’m fond of the quote, it recognizes both the limited, flawed nature of humans doing science (or democracy) and also that it is currently the best option we have by a long shot.
@DavidM_yeg @unicorndeburgh Science has some intrinsic limitations and is not well-suited to investigating every phenomena. It’s not great for analysing the metaphysical or divine, for instance. It is the best tool for many situations, but there are situations where other frameworks are more appropriate.
Meaning, purpose, value; these are not things science can tell us. Those are the things we bring to science, for better or worse.
Asking science to establish value and purpose leads to evils like eugenics.
Science is most valuable when it is describing what *is* and most destructive when used to decide what *ought* to be.
@unicorndeburgh gah, this, "It convinced me that there is still a point to this horrible work, a purpose in bearing witness to suffering and a reason to continue shouting into the abyss. Sometimes, even if just slightly, the abyss brightens." This sentence will be with me for a while.