Was “science” on the ballot?
By Stephen Hilgartner, J. Benjamin Hurlbut, Sheila Jasanoff,
Science
| 02. 26. 2021
On 7 November 2020, moments before Kamala Harris and Joe Biden began their victory speeches, giant screens flanking the stage proclaimed, “The people have chosen science.” Yet, nearly 74 million Americans, almost half the voters, had cast their ballots for Donald Trump, thereby presumably not choosing science. Prominent scientists asserted that “science was on the ballot” and lamented that “a significant portion of America doesn't want science” (1). But before despairing at the loss of trust in science, we should be sure we are worrying about the right problem. Was “science” really on the ballot? Is it useful to imagine U.S. citizens as divided into pro-science and anti-science camps? Does the label antiscience serve the purposes of deliberative democracy? The answer to these questions is plainly no. A correct diagnosis is essential to repairing the sorry state of science-society relations in the United States.
Campaign slogans notwithstanding, science was not on the ballot. If the election contested any aspect of science, it was not the worth of scientific knowledge but the authority of experts to decide how people... see more
Related Articles
Gene therapy has been the next big thing in medicine for decades. Until recent years, the results were underwhelming. Now there are promising developments and real successes, but significant questions remain: Is it safe enough? How many people might benefit, and under what conditions? And, crucially, how much will gene therapies cost and who will pay?
It has been more than 50 years since gene therapy was formally proposed; more than 40 years since the first scandal; more than 30...
By CGS Staff
| 01.14.2023
Photo by Isabela Kronemberger on Unsplash
Throughout 2022, CGS worked to deepen and expand collaborations with advocates and scholars concerned about the social justice implications of a range of human biotechnologies, with a major focus on the alarming prospect of using genome editing in human reproduction. We also organized and sponsored public events; curated, analyzed, and commented on news related to human genetics and assisted reproduction, both in media outlets and in our own newsletter and social media; and conducted...
By David Jensen, The California Stem Cell Report | 01.11.2023
Two prestigious campuses of the University of California are eyeing the creation of an entity that would cover the multimillion-dollar price tags of genetic therapies for the life-threatening bubble baby disease.
Also likely to be involved in some fashion is the California...
By Liz Essley Whyte, The Wall Street Journal | 01.10.2023
The Food and Drug Administration is pressing pause on drug-company testing of experimental medicines more often, a side effect of the industry’s move into promising but less-proven technologies.
The agency, which must sign off before companies can begin testing an...