I think the low-tier, C Life Sciences majors that could never cut it in higher academia hop over to the public sector as advisors and consultants. The allure of clout and the desire that policy makers have for self-aggrendizement creates a partnership of exploitation that preys upon the common population's insecurity about ignorance and the common need to prove oneself as above arbitrary superstition. This is, of course, exacerbated by the hordes of actual ignorant people that are attempting their own game of self-aggrendizement by traditional means of spreading misinformation. It is a vicious reciprocity.
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I think the low-tier, C Life Sciences majors that could never cut it in higher academia hop over to the public sector as advisors and consultants. The allure of clout and the desire that policy makers have for self-aggrendizement creates a partnership of exploitation that preys upon the common population's insecurity about ignorance and the common need to prove oneself as above arbitrary superstition. This is, of course, exacerbated by the hordes of actual ignorant people that are attempting their own game of self-aggrendizement by traditional means of spreading misinformation. It is a vicious reciprocity.
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Good for them to take this stand--but pretty cowardly this late in the game. The damage has already been done, and scientists have been used by power-hungry politicians and greedy corporations. Science is impossible with censorship, and they know this, but they thought they could play politics with authoritarians as allies. Coming as a big surprise to nobody, politicians are more skilled a manipulation than the scientists, and science took the credibility hit while politicians and the state gained increasing power.
After public trust in all other institutions reached all time lows, science was one of the few remaining institutions with favorable public perception. In the last two years, this has all changed. We'll be paying for this for generations as public trust in science collapses.
Scientists--being intelligence individuals who have an entire mythology surrounding scientific revolutions like Galileo or the rise of bogus Lysenkosim through censorship and force--should have known better the whole time then to get in bed with authoritarians supporting censorship. Next time you hear one complaining about the ignorant public, lack of funding, misunderstanding of their results, etc, remind them that their support of principles of free expression are vital and that they should reject authoritarians attempting to use them, even if they appear as useful allies. They really should have known better.