Thinking differently, acting alike
The goal of politics is not to get people to think alike. The goal of politics is to get people who think differently to act alike – Walter Lippmann IR...
Category: Policy
More sloppy thinking on DOD-funded research
I’m sure that Matt Yglesias has forgotten more economics in the past hour than I will ever know. And yet, he believes that “if spending on military ...
Sloppy thinking on DOD-funded research
Several liberal bloggers protested the Times suggestion that cutting the Defense budget will reduce innovation. While some of their points are well-taken (the D...
Accepting climate science vs. climate policy
To continue musing why some people don’t’ accept climate science, I wonder if part of the blame lies with those of us who want legislative action. We̵...
The many dimensions of doubt
I’ll respond yet again to Paul Newall at the Galilean Library. Paul asks: “What, then, is the difference between someone who seizes on doubts to d...
Is science value-free?
Let me toss in a few thoughts on a debate that has been beaten to death, most famously during the science wars in the mid-1990’s. Do scientific judgments...
Does the U.S. produce too many scientists?
Beryl Benderly’s recent piece about the alleged overproduction is getting some attention. She’s blogged about this before, and Nature also ran some...
AAAS annual meeting
Sorry for the light posting recently. I’ve been at the AAAS Annual Meeting. It was easily the best conference I’ve every been to. It was great to...
Caveats on cost-benefit analysis
My recent post on science and race should have had some caveats on the utility of cost-benefit analysis (CBA). I’ll be the first to admit that it can be ...
There is no science in team
In the dozens of science policy talks I’ve attended over the years (yes I know my life is interesting), I’ve noticed two very mixed messages that co...