Academia adopts the Language of Cowards
Science as a form of inquiry is the source of all freedom. Academics used to risk their lives to protect this unique human achievement. Not anymore. This is the most important fight of our generation.
The purpose of science is to find better ways to align humans with nature. Better typically means more with less. When humans first discovered fire they got lucky. A thunder struck a fire somewhere in a forest. But finding fires was expensive and potentially deadly. Early humans had to make risky choices whether to leave their caves in search for food and potentially freeze if they got caught by a blizzard. Over time they figured out how to make fire when it was needed. This process required lots of try and error. Somewhere somebody figured out how to combine dry grass, high friction and dexterity to make fire. Science is the process of finding better ways to align nature with human needs. Science and humans are closely intertwined. If an alien species came to earth and had to report back on what they saw they might define humans as “The animals that do science” and all other animals as “the animals that don’t do science”. Humans evolved to practice science and science evolved to fit human needs. The philosophy of science is hence the philosophy of humans. Humans are the thing that does science.
Over the past 300 years science has been flourishing because humans figured out how to do better science. With that humans have been flourishing, too. The difference between a man from 1750 and today is not physical. Stripped naked those two two men might look very similar. They love, hate, eat and die similarly. What differentiates them is not their physical existence but what’s in their head. It’s the knowledge which was created by science. Science is at the core of everything we cherish today. Our lives are more safe and comfortable than back then. Even though most of us still believe in the same religions like the 1750s people we interpret them differently. That’s because we developed better moral and ethical knowledge.
Unfortunately, today we are at risk of loosing this unique human achievement. Our universities have been hijacked by bureaucrats and political operatives. Instead of treating science as a form of inquiry they use science as a pretext for conclusions and justification of political actions. We must fight this.
Academics are the core of the problem. They have been lured into a position of power and prestige which makes them susceptible to political meddling. Instead of championing research and scientific progress US universities have become gatekeepers for status and prestige. As a consequence productivity in science has dropped. Innovative companies like Tesla, SpaceX, Nvidia or Apple increasingly rely on their own research since academia is not in the position to produce useful scientific progress. SpaceX is a striking example of this development. Years ago founder Elon Musk gave an interview at the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department at MIT. What’s striking about this interview is that Musk is telling the department head what is possible in rocket technology. It should be the other way around. But even MIT is spending more resources on protecting status and prestige than on fostering humility in scientific discovery. Students proudly wear sweaters with MIT logos. The same applies to any other research university. Imagine wearing a sweater that says “With humility and grit I keep trying, failing and correcting new ideas”.
Academics have become the modern priesthood. Like their monastic predecessors they have fallen to the temptations of worldly pleasures such as wealth, prestige and status. The price they pay for that is scientific irrelevance. But there is a much higher price we pay as a society which is increased risk of falling back into the dark ages. The problem is that Universities have been hijacked by political operatives and bureaucrats to propel their agendas. Currently this manifests itself with the social justice narrative infiltrating academia in Western universities. But this is not just a far left problem. Today’s social justice, climate change or Covid response policy is yesterday’s terrorism and homeland security threat. In other words, both sides of the political spectrum have lured academia to misappropriate science and research for their own agendas. We can’t let this happen. Scientific freedom is the only source of freedom and freedom is the only source of scientific progress. Destroying this flywheel means putting an end to human development. It literally means falling back into the dark ages.
There are two ways to fix this. One is to isolate academia from politically motivated thought coercion. The other is to create new institutions where scientific progress and knowledge creation can flourish freely. The former seems hard to achieve. Too many academics have tasted wealth and prestige. Instead of fighting coercion they adopt the language of cowards. Therefore, the fight must be fought elsewhere. If academics cannot be changed, change academia. Create new institutions where knowledge is separated from politically motivated coercion. Khan Academy is such and endevor. We need more of this.