Slashdot Mirror
Did the US Take the Back Seat In Science In 2009?
tcd004 writes "In the PBS NewsHour's roundup of the biggest science news of the year, Neil DeGrasse Tyson dropped this doozie: '[Scientific leadership] drives the economic strength and security of nations. The fall is not from a cliff. More like a slow, downward slide — almost imperceptible from day to day. But as the years pass America will have descended from leaders to players to merely followers as we fade to insignificance, at best hitching a ride on the innovations of others.'"
If only the US had launched some space observatories
If only the US had bothered to maintain some of its science assets
If only the US had conducted any exploration of our solar system
If only the US had commissioned any meaningful physics experiments
If only the US had any anthropologists discovering stuff
If only the US had any geneticists discovering stuff
If only the US had bothered to conduct any nuclear physics experiments
If only the US had any medical science to speak of
If only the US had any practicing bioengineers
If only the US had funded any studies into the harmful effects of BPA
...then maybe then SlashSnot editors would avoid indulging their myopic views of the US science.
Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old
Just a quicky on this. As for the goldline commercials, Beck has always admitted to having an interest in selling gold as he has always claimed he was a customer of the same company as far back as I can remember him doing them. He also does "say it isn't so" spots where he mocks a position that can be taken out of context easily if you miss part of it. I don't watch him on the TV but I have heard him on the radio a few times and it's sort of obvious if your paying attention. The problem walks in when you miss the setup where you find out it's a gag or something. I don't really think it's a difference between paid opinion and honest opinion rather then what you missed with the opinion that easily blurs the line. And I believe this to be true regardless of whether you agree or disagree with what he says.
Just a though I figured you might want to consider.