Curtis Brainard: Can Science Be "Humanized"? | CJR
From The Observatory, an online critique of science and environment reporting at the Columbia Journalism Review (H/t: DotEarth):
There is a hauntingly dystopian headline in the September issue of Harper’s Magazine: “Dehumanized: When math and science rule the school.” ...
The problem ... according to the essay, is that the sciences are unlikely to produce “the kinds of citizens necessary to the survival of a democratic society” — which is to say, those who stick up for democratic as well as personal values. ...
Consider, for example, Rajendra Pachauri’s recent statement that he supports a goal of stabilizing the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide at 350 parts per million: “As chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) I cannot take a position because we do not make recommendations,” he told Agence France-Presse. “But as a human being I am fully supportive of that goal.”
Backing a target that would require political action compelled Pachauri to differentiate his roles as “a scientist” and “a human.” Such things make [Mark] Slouka’s hypothesis, about the “dehumanization” of students, seem less dystopian and more realistic.
