how the republicans turned their back on science spring 2007: the bush years robert f. miller
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How the Republicans Turned Their Back on Science Spring 2007: The Bush Years Robert F. Miller. On Our Way. Robert F. Miller Neuroscience, University of Minnesota. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
How the Republicans Turned Their Back on Science
Spring 2007:The Bush Years
Robert F. Miller
Robert F. MillerNeuroscience, University of Minnesota
On Our Way
Our Modern Dilemma…revealed
by studies of ancient scripts about ancient
empires
Once, long ago, the two ruling political parties of the Empire supported science and scientific research and the Empire prospered.But an evil force emerged from the dark side and transformed one of the ruling parties into an ancient tribe of fierce Goths.The transformed Goth Party became hostile to science and suspicious of scientists…The Goths seized control of the Empire and began to marginalize science and trivialize scientists… They restricted the ability of scientists to explore new ideas and effect public policy on matters of health and the long-term future of the environment. And they suppressed too the expression of ideas and the free exchange of informationThe citizens of the Empire were slow to understand that a great Empire could not be achieved without the support of great science.It proved equally difficult to establish that the Goth attack on science was a direct attack on the Empire itself.
Many feel that the experiences of the
ancient Empire are being replayed in America
today…..
Mainstream Media are beginning to sense that something is wrong…..!
Science has been
downgraded in America!
This is an astonishing thing
to say about America….
Fortunately, we can fix this problem tonight
Meet Doc Brown
De Lorean Time Machine
Doc’s Tool…..
History
A brief account of how we got here………..
The American Research University
On the History of the American Research University in Capsule Form• Before WW II the government did not
significantly support university research• The model for federal research was a WW I
model in which professors were inducted into the army, did research in federal laboratories which were then disbanded at the close of the war and everyone went home
University Research Support Before WW II
• Science with a small “s”• Very few national funding organizations
• Russel Sage Foundation (1907; railroads; $10 M; Social Sciences)
• Rockefeller Foundation (1909; Standard Oil; $50 M->$100 M)
• Carnegie Foundation (1913 steel; $100 M)• Local philanthropy
Vannevar Bush• Office of Strategic Research and
Development (V. Bush; OSRD;independent of NRC)
• National Defense Research Committee (NDRC)
• James Bryant Conant (President, Harvard)
• Karl Compton (President, MIT)
• Frank Jewett (NAS Pres,Director, Bell Labs)
• Richard Tolman (Dean Graduate School, Caltech)
• Committee on Medical Research (CMR, largely NRC Medical Division structure)1890-1974
1944
War research benefit nation
1. Technology transfer
2. Medical Research
3. Federal support for universities4. Federal support training scientists
Endless Frontier• V. Bush’s plan to introduce a
permanent presence of Federal support for research, centered primarily in universities and controlled by scientists just as OSRD (FDR had agreed)
• Emphasis on basic science “disinterested science”
• Proposed a National Science organization as an umbrella under which all federally funded research for science would be administered.
End of WW II
• Pentagon built in WW II made of unreinforced concrete.• Plan was to tear it down after the war but FDR suddenly died
April 1945 (changed everything)• Truman was uninformed about FDR’s plans and sided with
hard-liners (Forrestal/Byrnes vs Simpson/Wallace)• 11 days after FDR died Truman met with Russian Foreign
Minister Molotov (Cold War begins).• James Forrestal/February 1946 George Kennan’s “long
telegram”• “Mr X” in Foreign Affairs July, “Containment” military and
diplomacy
Cold War
• Military-related research in universities began as the dominant theme• Military support of university research would
exceed that of other agencies until 1960• No support for university infrastructure• No support for graduate training• Research activity supported was biased
towards applied research rather than basic
IMPACT OF COLD WAR ON V. BUSH PLAN
Vannevar Bush Plan
OSDR
NDRC CMR
National Science Foundation
All Federally Funded Research
OSDR
NDRC CMR
National Science Foundation
All Federally Funded Research
Vannevar Bush Plan
National Institute of Health
OSDR
NDRC CMR
National Science Foundation
Vannevar Bush meets Truman
NSF delayeduntil 1950
Established
1887
ONR
Military support of university research
A Federal Research Economy was born(NIH, NSF, ONR,AEC)(NASA added later)
Who would be the recipients of the new Federal spending on
research universities after WWII?
Introducing…..the sweet sixteen…
Sweet Sixteen Research Universities
1) University of Minnesota*; 2) Stanford; 3) University of Chicago; 4) Columbia University; 5) University of Illinois*; 6) University of Michigan*; 7) University of California (Berkeley)*; 8) Harvard; 9) Penn; 10) Princeton; 11) Cornell; 12) Johns Hopkins; 13) Yale; 14) MIT; 15) California Institute technology; 15) University of Wisconsin*
*public/state
• Strategy was for sweet 16 to serve as the main recipients of federal revenues
• Universities selected on the basis of # of Ph.Ds awarded and breadth of program
• Peer-review mechanism established to relieve recipients’ fear of bureaucratic takeover of science
Mary Lasker• Played major role in
enhancing the NIH budget through interactions with congressional members and public relations activities
• Helped make the case that medical research had a good political karma
Lasker Award is given each year to basic and clinical researchers. Many Lasker Award winners have gone on to win a Nobel Prize. Mary Lasker died in 1994, but Lasker foundation continues; first Lasker Award 1946
NIH vs NSF FundingNIH
Lobbying done by lay people(Mary Lasker)
Common to see budget cuts restored +
NSF
Lobbying done by scientists(from NAS)
Rare to see budget cuts restored
Budgetgrowth very high
Budget growth normal
NIH became engine of basic biological sciences
Sputnik: October 1957
• Physicist Edward Teller, the patron saint of the hydrogen bomb, said the United States had lost "a battle more important and greater than Pearl Harbor.“
• U.S. News & World Report said the launching ranked alongside nuclear fission in military importance.
• Senator Henry Jackson called the satellite "a devastating blow to the prestige of the United States as the leader in the scientific and technical world."
Sputnik shocked the nation! The Russians are Coming!
Sputnik had nothing to do with the science of space exploration
• Few months after Sputnik I and Sputnik II US launched Explorer I which carried geiger counters and discovered the first of the two Van Allen Radiation Belts
• America never lost its lead in the science of space but lost the propaganda war which determined our reaction to Sputnik
• Kennedy was willing to listen to advisors and use instrumentation for space exploration until Yuri Gagarin first Russian (1961) cosmonaut, followed by US Apollo program Man on Moon (1969)
U.S. Response to Sputnik• NASA formed • Seaborg Report (1960)
• Scientific research should be regarded as an investment• Basic research and graduate education belong together
at every level• Strengthening academic science was “critical for the
national welfare and the responsibility of the federal government
• Universities themselves lacked the means of supporting science, so a partnership between the universities and the national government is essential
• Vannevar Bush’s original plan put into play
Seaborg Report (cont’d)• Called for a doubling of the number of “first rate academic
centers of science.”
The Golden Era of American Research University is born (1958-1968)
• 1958-1968: projected growth of 15%/yr
• Federal funding for research reached its highest % of GNP (0.25% in 1968)
• Greater role proposed for NSF in science funding and regulation*
• Part of Kennedy’s “New Frontier”
Sputnik Stimulation
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0
20
40
60
80
100Total $ % Basic ResearchTotal $ % Applied Research
Tota
l Exp
endi
ture
s ($)
X 1
09
Year
Per
cent
(%)
• 1954 when federal government was supporting one-half of the research in medical schools, just 13 institutions expended more than $1 million and they constituted 50% of the total NIH extramural program $
• 1966 88 institutions received more than $1 million from NIH alone and the 13 largest recipients had only 32% of total NIH extramural program $
• 1960 “magical year” when NIH funding to universities exceeded Department of Defense funding
• less programmatic research
• more basic science research
A few facts…
The birthplace of a Trichotomy
Goldwater Defeat (1964)
Civil Rights southern strategy
Silent Spring (Rachel Carson)
New arena for science (policy)
Reaganism government is the problem
Deregulation (anti-science, anti-intellectualism, anti-ismsReligious right into politics)
WW II NIH vs NSF
Federal Funding
Sputnik
Nuclear Physics to Biology
NIH Focus
Expansion of research universities
Free Market Economy
Vietnam WarVoila! A new
Republican Party is born
“Not until I saw the whole story laid out in Chris Mooney’s thoroughly researched and documented book did I realize the enormity of what is happening. Reading this important book won’t make you feel good, but it will make you wiser.”Robert Park author ofVoodoo Science
International survey “Do you accept validity of evolution.”
But, the pursuit of abortion breast cancer relationship shows religious right intrusion into science
William R. SteigerSpecial Assistant to HHS
Representative WHO board
Blocked CDC/NIH endorsement of 2003 WHO/FAO Rpt
Revamped US WHO delegation include Right to Life
Told CDC/NIH scientists not to talk on tobacco/nutrition
Alienated AIDS community emphasis on abstinence
Downgrade UN/WHO research and US
scientistswho participate
How to diminish scientific input into government policies
Abolish Agency OTA ESA
Change Science Standards ESA
Attack scientists and science
Data Quality Act(Center for Regulatory Effectiveness)
(Jim Tozzi)
Jan 2007 Bush policy change on regulation
1995 Gingrich Congress
Suppress Scientists (UCS)
1 Barry Goldwater
2. Richard Nixon
3. Dick Cheney
4. Margaret Thatcher
5. Friedrich Hayek
6. Milton Friedman
7. George W. Bush
Ronald Reagan
Lemuel Boulware
But as the Empire and its research universities struggled for their identity in the new, harsh world of the Goths..Indeed at the very darkest moment of the Empire, the citizens undertook an act of courageous unison and forced the Goths to release their death grip as rulers This sudden release from tyranny exposed the Goths for their selfish scheming, profiteering and the general malfeasance of their actions.By unanimous decree, the Goth Party was ruled an unconstitutional organization for its deceptive, destructive and self-serving actions against the government of the people. A universal justice decree was issue from the Hague and declared, in a unanimous decision, that the Goths would be banned from the Empire, exported by a NASA space shuttle, to a newly identified galaxy where they would live for the remainder of their lives on the island of Katrina on the planet of Abu Ghrab.The Empire was able to recover and resume its global leadership in the development and application of science for the benefit of humanity.
The End…
…or is it the beginning?
Sam Harris’ book“End of Faith”
“We can no longer ignore the fact that billions of our neighbors believe in the metaphysics of martyrdom, or in the literal truth of the Book of
Revelation, or any of the other fantastical notions that have lurked in the minds of the
faithful for millennia—because our neighbors are now armed with chemical, biological, and
nuclear weapons.”
THE VIETNAM WAR
OSDR
NDRC CMR
National Science Foundation
All Federally Funded Research
Vannevar Bush Plan
Vannevar Bush Plan
OSDR
NDRC CMR
National Science Foundation
All Federally Funded Research
What went wrong?• 1962 Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
• Focused on DDT (eventually banned)• Stimulated environmental awareness• “Better living through chemistry” had limits • Evoked a strong attack from chemical industry• One chemical company tried to prevent publication
of the book• Kennedy requested PSAC (Presidential Advisory
Committee) report on pesticides which confirmed Carson’s conclusions
• Science suddenly entered into a new arena…
From an interview with Rachel Carson before her death in 1964:
"Man's attitude toward nature is today critically important simply because wehave now acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature. But man is a part of nature,and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself…[We are] challenged asmankind has never been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery, not ofnature, but of ourselves."
And Voila, a new Republican baby was born
The Counter Revolution • We don’t like the message therefore let’s kill the
messenger– Downgrading environmentalism– Eliminating science advisory functions
• OTA (disbanded under Newt Gingrich congress in 1995)– Mainstream science is the enemy (“junk science”)– Fringe science (usually funded by industry) (“sound
science”)– Because science cannot say or predict with certainty
its conclusions are invalid
ESA=Endangered Species Act
Eliminate OTA,
New right-wing support
groups
Landmark Legislation
Through 1990s
Republicans tried to eliminate
ESA, but too well
supported
Data Quality Act“junk science”
Vs “sound science
1. ESA is passed (1973)
Too much regulation
!
Gut ESA(Gingrich
Republicans)
Attack studies and scientists
themselves