Challenging the Business of Science--Let's Rehabilitate It!

During my drive yesterday, I listened to a radio program that considered the effects of the NASA Challenger disaster on the nation's psyche.  I remembered seeing the news about that when I was 9; it had that sense of loss felt across the nation that was similar to what people felt as the Twin Towers came crashing down.  (Before all the feelings of vengeance became a national obsession.)  We run so quickly from the pain of loss.  We fill our minds with other things, and many of those things can cause greater destruction.  Sometimes, the damage is felt so far into the future that we don't even notice the flow of causality.

The guest on the radio show was pointing out how the Challenger shock led to a shattering of confidence in science.  Instead of placing the focus on the factors that caused the NASA crew to be neglectful, the public learned to distrust science as a whole.  This got me thinking about the field of science and what has happened to that trust in science.

Not only have we compartmentalized science into "questions it can answer" (technology) and "questions that are off-limits," (morality, spirituality, social systems) but the public has also grown weary from the number of conflicting findings, particularly in medical science.  Carbs are bad, then they're good.  Herbal supplements will prevent cancer, but they also do nothing significant!  Anti-depressants will improve your mood, but maybe they are no better than exercise, or they have the unfortunate consequence of making you diabetic.  Doctors are informed by sexy sales reps at lavish dinners, and that's the prescription you get.

I abandoned my graduate studies in part because of the "business of science."  In the same way that businesses have usurped power from government lawmakers by making them slaves to the funding sources, scientific research is, likewise, guided by funding sources.  If I want to study project X, but it has no pot of gold at the end, the research will not move forward.  By contrast, a research project that has a lot of "grant potential" will be pursued.  Researchers have to make a living too, and they don't want to just scrape by.  In one of my courses, the professor often canceled classes because he had to attend meetings with companies like Merck.  This practice became routine, and it was unsettling because how was I going to get the education I needed if the professors were too busy chasing after grants?

Academic journals do not make it any easier.  They want to publish stories that are exciting.  In other words, they want publicity; they need headlines!  Let's say you research the benefit of standing on your head and you find it is helpful to stave off Alzheimer's.  I am skeptical, so I want to duplicate your research to confirm your findings.  First, I have to overcome the grant problem (who's going to fund this project since it's already been done?) and then I have to find a journal who will publish essentially the same research (that's old news to them, and won't help with readership or subscriptions).  So, the public is spending thousands of hours on their heads believing it will help them, but it may not.  We don't know because we didn't provide the money to find out.  And this is a mild example.  There are many more extreme cases, especially in the pharmaceutical industry, where deleterious effects are not fairly represented or understood, and the cost of the medications is extremely high (big profit$ for the pharma companies).

People are justified in their distrust of the business of science because, like all business, the goal is to maximize profit, not further humanity's well being.  But, the business of science needs to be differentiated from the true process of science, the scientific method.

I once told my professor that science is the pursuit of truth, and he countered rather smugly, "No, it's about convincing people what the truth is."  That was my personal Challenger disaster moment, and it broke my heart.  I wanted to be a researcher because I wanted to learn about the world, not as it "should be" to conform to someone's ego or someone's financial interests.  I just wanted to learn.

Since the profit motive has infiltrated our culture so pervasively, leading to unremitting distrust, we are all called upon to be "activists" to correct this error.   Trust is an edifice upon which we can build a healthy society.  Lies lead to degradation, not only of society at large, but of our interpersonal relationships (the problem with so many "pyramid scheme" businesses), and make us less healthy and happy.  Let's start with trust and then we can get back to science to help us all create a better world.

Danish Happiness and American Hypocrisy

I received a book over the holidays, which explores the themes relevant to human happiness or well being in different societies.  The first culture is Denmark:

The high taxes that I had initially been skeptical about apparently serve to nudge Danes away from pursuing material wealth to an excessive degree, while providing them with the kind of long-term satisfaction that comes from education, health care, and an economic safety net.  The folk school tradition [(which emphasizes the question "who are you?" instead of "what can you do?")], meanwhile imbued Danes with an appreciation of the arts, a populist sense of democracy, and a habit of joining clubs that keeps these Scandinavians from becoming socially isolated.  Danish happiness, it seems, is also strongly linked to the trust that ordinary citizens feel for one another and to their sense that their feelings and opinions are adequately heard. pp. 49-50   Dan Buettner,  Thrive


This information will not surprise many of those involved in the Zeitgeist Movement, but it surprises many Americans because we are indoctrinated from youth that money is the real measure of success and achievement, that taxes are as terrible as death itself, and that to be educated is to develop a skill to make us employable.  These values differ so dramatically from what's described in the study about Danes.  Another main finding was that an important factor in happiness is living in a place where everyone is of equal status.   This was a very prominent point made in the recent Zeitgeist Moving Forward film:  the socioeconomic disparity itself causes a stress that reduces health and longevity, when controlling for other factors like access to health services.

America talks a lot about "equality" but we all know that our everyday lives do not manifest this characteristic of equal access.  An old colleague from Australia used to joke, "I thought America was a classless society, but the first thing I was asked before getting my ticket to the US was, "First class, Business class, or Coach?"  In considering the 300 million dollar bonuses that some Wall St Executives get, it's remarkable to think that a huge swath of society is only worth minimum wage, $7.25/hr., while these Execs get approximately $144,000/hr.  When money is essentially the only means to make a living, does this disparity not speak to the way that some people are disvalued while others are astronomically overvalued?

If money were only a means to buy artwork, it may be different, but since it is used to buy food, shelter, health care, water, transportation, and every form of recreation, it makes sense that this inequality of socioeconomic circumstances contributes to a pervasive stress.  There is a chronic acknowledgement that some food, housing, and the like are unattainable for those not rich enough.  Always less than.

Long Beach Premier of Zietgeist 3 Moving Forward Movie

This is going to be rockin out! Free! Yes Free! At Long Beach Art Theater Wed 19th (tonite), at 7pm! The address is 2025 E 4th Street, Long Beach..
I'm so looking forward to going! I cancelled some plans to do this and am urging others to come together in Long Beach (referred to as Little San Fran) and support this awesome event!

My 2011 goals are to move further on the Minimalist Vibe. We have downsized and fit all our "things" in a 700 sq foot apt very comfy! I am told when folx come visit they like how streamlined the apt is!We really have to keep on top of the bring something new in and take something old out (donation, giveaway, etc). We are also paying off bills this year. My hubby got a nice bonus and we used most of it for paying off our bills. We still have some, but they should be payed off by the end of the year. Our goal is to be as debt free as possible, keep our belongings pared down and be able to move about freely w/o being sucked into the currency consumer based society we currently have that Zietgeist Movement made me aware of on a deeper and deeper level! Resource Based Economy is where I am personally headed! Growing my own food, trading with others, working off the grid with our house in Fla when we move back...Being content with BEING not doing and consuming...
Of course this is a work in progress, as always. And believe me I would have loved to go on one hell of a vacation with the Bonus my hubby got.... But we don't want to be tied to debt anymore!
Sooo looking forward to tonites movie and being around like minded peeps!

Zeitgeist Global Premiere--My Reaction and Questions

I volunteered for the Saturday Premiere of Zeitgeist Moving Forward.  I was slightly disappointed by the number of people who arrived after 7pm, even though the movie started at 7!  I began watching the film at 730pm.

It was a full house and the audience applauded and laughed throughout the presentation.  Peter Joseph devoted a large part of the film to genetics and their relevance to what is commonly referred to as, "human nature."  Most of the findings reported were not surprising to me since I've long been interested in plasticity, and there is quite a bit of flexibility/adaptability in the brain.  The one finding that astounded me was the finding that human infants who are not cuddled will die.  I knew that the impulse to be physically comforted was strong (as demonstrated in a primate study in which the monkeys preferred to hold on to the fluffy soft monkey shape instead of the wire monkey, despite the fact that it was the wire monkey that provided sustenance), but I did not realize it's absence was fatal.

The case goes on to speak more generally about the implications of a society in which we are all treated rather abusively.  We learn that we are to be exploited, ruthlessly enslaved to some job in order to earn a living.  You must earn your living; society will not conspire to generously support you to live.  This is a simple understanding which all of us recognize.  The roots of this system run deep and wide, so the contrast of this very real circumstance against that which the Zeitgeist Movement proposes compels the audience to respond.  They are brightened by the vision of a more sane world, but the gap between the two seems insurmountable.  The gap is both large and small.  The gap is in understanding.  Just as we've all collectively given money its value (like we used to give "the rain dance"), we can collectively dismiss it.

The big problem, as I see it, is that of the years of abuse.  It is the adult population that must dispatch money's value, not children.  The adults are abused, however, so it will indeed take a kind of collective therapy to work through those wounds, traumas, and sense of victimization/entitlement.  The questions about loss of property, wasted effort (I worked so hard for $, and now it's meaningless?), and mistrust (we have grown up in an atmosphere of whoever is master at deceit is a master of all) are all signs of that abuse.

So, what is the process of this therapy?  A film may kick-start the process, but what are the ways it can be continued?

Any ideas?

Survival of the Fittest

As a society, we've come to the understanding that "survival of the fittest" is not the optimal way to organize society.  In essence, we reject the idea of "you're wrong, I'm right, because I won the fight!"  If we all accepted this principle to guide society, then you could strangle me and take my computer just because you were stronger or had a better strategy for offing me.  You're right to take my stuff would be obvious since you were able to defeat me.

Again, we collectively figured out that this made life just a bit too brutal, too savage to endure for a lifetime.  We decided to create "laws," which the majority accepts as a reasonable means of organizing society.  With this development, we have "survival of the richest."  Those with money survive longer than those without it (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/us/23health.html).  And this is just within the United States!  The life expectancy of Ethiopians is 55 years, which is 23 years less than that of Americans.  Keep in mind, that the American statistic includes all the casualties of the real weapons of mass destruction: McNuggets and Whoppers.

Gangs do not abide by many of society's laws because they are not protected by those laws.  They create their own cultures with their own laws for the purpose of acquiring the resources that matter, namely money.  With this money, they provide food, shelter, and security forces to protect their members and their economic infrastructure.  The larger society does not acknowledge their ambition, savvy, and hard work in maintaining these gangs because they don't play by "our rules."  Those that play by "our rules" and are unsuccessful at amassing wealth and power to pay for health care, food, and shelter are just.....lazy.  (I'm not making this up; I see this theme repeated again and again in comments sections of news stories about people who have experienced hardships that have left them economically disabled.)

I am hopeful that we will one day see this current economic system as another form of savagery, which will give room for a new system to flourish.

Feeding Children, Feeding Ourselves

It's nearly impossible for me to hear a story on news radio that is not about a problem that is created by the monetary system and its engine of scarcity.  People need help, that help is supplied through programs, but programs are under pressure because they never have enough money, which makes providing help so much more limited.  So much money is spent on just getting more money that that money isn't used to actually provide the assistance needed.  The assistance can be from environmental protection groups to education to disaster relief to lighthouses (which apparently no one wants to pay for with their own money).

Heading home Monday evening I heard this brief story about a woman who moved into a trailer park to escape an abusive situation.  She didn't have the help of any welfare programs and she had not enough food to feed her children.  She was desperate and demoralized.   She broke down and finally asked her neighbor for help.  They shared food that night, and that was the beginning of a co-op that emerged to support their whole community.

This story, while heart-breaking, was great in that it serves as a reminder that even though our system is set up to pit each one of us against each other in the battle for the sacred and scarce resource of money, that compassion and sharing can survive in spite of it.  Imagine what could be accomplished if the system actively fostered these qualities?

http://thestory.org/archive/The_Story_010311_Full_Story.mp3/view
(the story I'm referring to appears at around minute 27)