In his 2011 book The Great Stagnation, economist Tyler Cowen argued that economic growth in the U.S. is slowing due to less technological innovation. And he suggested this is because most of the “low-hanging fruit” have already been picked. Other commentators have made similar arguments.
In a new report for the CSPI, researcher Leif Rasmussen puts forward an alternative (or additional) explanation for the decline in technological innovation: science has become politicised.
Scientists, Rasmussen argues, have come under increasing pressure to tailor their research to the agenda of woke activists. (He doesn’t use the term ‘woke’ in his report, but we all know what he’s talking about.)
Rasmussen’s method is very simple. He counted the frequency of various politicized terms (i.e., woke jargon) in the abstracts of successful National Science Foundation research awards between 1990 and 2020.
Specifically, he noted whether each abstract contained at least one of seven terms: ‘equity’, ‘diversity’, ‘inclusion’, ‘gender’, ‘marginalize’, ‘underrepresented’ and ‘disparity’. Variants of each term (e.g., ‘inclusive’ or ‘inclusivity’) were included in this.
Note: the National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency with an annual budget of $8.5 billion (so not exactly pocket change). And it accounts for a quarter of all federal funding of basic research at U.S. colleges.
Rasmussen’s main finding is shown in the chart below, with each line corresponding to a different area of science.
As you can see, the frequency of woke jargon has increased massively in all areas of science. Unsurprisingly, the worst offender is ‘Education & Human Resources’. As of 2020, more than half of all abstracts contain at least one of the seven terms.
By contrast, ‘Mathematics & Physical Sciences’ has seen the smallest increase; though even here, the rise is non-trivial. More than 20% of abstracts now mention ‘equity’, ‘diversity’, ‘inclusion’ or one of the other terms.
It should be noted that every NSF abstract has a section titled ‘Broader Impacts’, in which the researchers must explain why on earth their research would be of interest to anyone else. The official guidance for this section explicitly mentions the goal of increasing representation of women and minorities:
NSF values the advancement of scientific knowledge and activities that contribute to the achievement of societally relevant outcomes. Such outcomes include, but are not limited to: full participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities … development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce
Hence, it’s not necessarily true that every abstract mentioning one of the seven terms corresponds to an ideological research project per se. In a lot of cases, the researchers probably just crammed as much woke jargon as they could in the ‘Broader Impacts’ section, hoping to maximise the chance of success.
‘Our attempt to prove the Riemann hypothesis will encourage more women and minorities to enter the field of mathematics because…’ You get the idea.
Rasmussen’s finding is therefore consistent with two distinct types of politicisation. First, funding agencies may have become politicised. (And in fact, we can already see this in the text quoted above). And second, scientific research itself may have become politicised.
Further research is needed to quantify the scale of each of these types. (I suspect that both are getting worse, or at least have been for the last decade.) Nonetheless, Rasmussen’s report provides valuable insights into a troubling phenomenon, and is worth reading in full.
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Something had to fill the gap left by traditional religions.
Humans just can’t do without some form of religion.
Oh tell me about it, what a night i’ve had with all that voodoo stuff.
Cammaerts is the author of a famous quotation (often mistakenly attributed to G. K. Chesterton) in his study on Chesterton:
This is why I never liked the atheist superstars Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris.
They were very clever and eloquent in pointing out the irrationality and inconsistencies of traditional religions, but never proposed a better alternative.
They really thought that destroying people’s religious beliefs would produce a good result in and of itself.
This is the problem with so many clever people. They are really intelligent and at the same time really stupid.
like septic scumbaggery you mean?
Reports of huge increases of still births and baby deaths in Scotland, Canada and New Zealand
What could be causing this?
One of the results of withdrawing medical support from communities dues to the Covid scare? Improper adjustment of the figures by the statisticians whose job it is to assure us that everything is just dandy?
But it would be nice to have some references…
well the placenta will obviously be examined in a post-mortem style investigation!
and if a mass of micro-clots are found it will be carefully filed with the “top people top people” filing the jab harms database.
Non-woke parents, of course!
Further research is needed to quantify the scale of each of these types. (I suspect that both are getting worse, or at least have been for the last decade.) Nonetheless, Rasmussen’s report provides valuable insights into a troubling phenomenon, and is worth reading in full.
This further research will be of especial value to trans-cis-gender LBGTQRUPSNE+ life-forms since it will validate the reasons for their existence…
The first thing the Soviets did in Berlin was to tear down Nazi statues. The first thing the Americans did in Iraq was tear down the statues of Saddam Hussein. The first thing the communists did after the revolution in America 2020/2021 was tear down the statues of the founding fathers. It’s symbolic. It’s what revolutionaries do.
Of course the academy is politicised! How else do you think Americans go from patriots to city-burning commies in three generations?
Who’s funding science? It’s hardly scientific to pay for the result you want.
This is a manifestation of the Frankfurt School’s ‘long march though the institutions’. The West is destined to fall without a shot being fired – and all it took was a few clever and manipulative men supported by the same folk who funded the Bolsheviks.
Amen!!
Over a decade I ago I gave evidence to a NICE meeting regarding a new treatment for keratoconus. The very first part of the discussion was on ‘diversity and inclusion’ rather than does it f…ing work or cause serious side effects.
In fact it does and ethnic minorities actually benefit more than most.
Priorities!
Perhaps it would be more fruitful to look at how much spending is controlled by Anthony Fauci
‘Israel Joins Japan And China In Preparing For Next SARS-CoV-2 Strain That Will Debut Soon As Delta Wanes In Some Countries. A Reassortant Strain Is Expected!’
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/israel-joins-japan-and-china-in-preparing-for-the-next-sars-cov-2-strain-that-will-debut-soon-as-delta-wanes-in-some-countries-a-reassortant-strain-is
Will this same researcher come back in five years time and do the same analysis on UK school material that includes words and phrases like Climate Emergency, Sustainable, Net Zero, Carbon Credit, 97% of scientists agree, veganism, Prince Charles, Al Gore etc because our children are about to be propagandised and brainwashed into this self-destructive cult now.
About to? That horse bolted a long time ago.
Why do you think the current crop of university students are a flock of compliant, woke, vax loving sheep?
Yes but now the globalists puppets want to crank it up even further by teaching EVERY SUBJECT through the lens of clmate change
I warned y’all
Scottish Government’s Vax Passport Sending People’s Private Data To Amazon, Microsoft; Report
Fascists.
This almost certainly breaches the Data Protection Act 2018, even if it is the government doing it, not a private company like Sainsbury’s.
Sue the bastards and post this ZH article on other forums and Twitter.
Since when has government ever cared about the law? Convenient for me, I don’t have a phone & don’t intend getting vaxxed EVER.
Another plus for the unvaxxed is; Assisted death only for vaccinated, euthanasia association says not sure that’s a service the vaxxed will have the time to solicit either.
I don’t have a smartphone either. Friends are planning to give theirs up & get a simple mobile.
I’ll never have another ‘vaccine’, having come to the realisation that the medical-industrial complex has covered up the problems for >30 years. It’s now so bold that it’s imposing products that do us net harm (as opposed to products that don’t do any good). Read the book ‘Doctoring Data’.
Of course, if smallpox returns, some people might carefully add up the risks and benefits. The fatality rate in children in 1850s was 70% … giving rise to the only vaccine mandate the UK has ever had in two centuries.
>if smallpox returns,
find a cow with cowpox.
There was an article in the Guardian a year or so ago about the last person to contract (and die of) Smallpox, in 1978.
The article was clearly a pro-covid-vaccine nudge, but I’m inclined to believe it was factually reasonably accurate; the case is described here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_smallpox_outbreak_in_the_United_Kingdom
If so, then the woman’s doctor, who had unsurprisingly never seen Smallpox, initially diagnosed Chicken Pox, so there was a considerable delay between infection and diagnosis, which was when they went round and quarantined and vaccinated anyone who had been in contact.
But, the only other person to be infected was the woman’s mother, whose case was “very minor”. Given the delay between infection and diagnosis, and hence between infection and any action being taken, that seems quite surprising.
So, given that the Smallpox vaccine was not extensively used for a long time prior to this event, I’m inclined to thing that the population was effectively immune, and likely still is. Whether that is because of much improved public health, or maybe the virus mutated to a much less serious strain (like Scarlet Fever has become Scarletina), or even Cowpox became endemic and replaced Smallpox, no idea.
Early on in this crisis it was established that the government is above the law now.
The Keep Britain Free court cases established that.
Those in government now know they can pretty much do anything they like as long as it has popular support or they can create the illusion that it has popular support.
Actually, you don’t need popular support. All you need is a tame expert stating that this has to be done, and Bob’s your uncle…
Anybody else see another football mysteriously collapsed last night? Sheff United player. Sincerely hope he is okay, thank god he was talking to staff afterwards on way to hospital. Look on Twitter etc and people are doing all sorts of mental gymnastics to try suggest it is nothing to do with the vaccines. Absolutely brainwashed.
Sorry for derailing the main discussion!
Yes saw this, John Fleck – no mention of why or what anywhere to be seen last night – little made of it when I looked again this morning. Just after Sergio Aguero forced to consider retirement due to heart problems, had an argument about it with FIL last night. “Can’t be cos of Covid, come on son don’t be stupid, vaccines causing heart problems? I’ve not seen anything, he’s always bloody injured…” “yeah, with calf problems not a bloody heart attack!”
Interestingly, he tested positive for Covid-19 in June of this year, will have probably been vaccinated either pre-or post this date given his status as a sportsman and being in and around the Scotland squad over summer – naturally wont be linked to the vaccines though.
They are already trying to say Augero had a known heart condition since a kid. If it were that bad they would have been monitoring and he would not have been able to play professionally. With Fleck, some are saying having covid could have affected his heart. Yeh right.
Well the only things different in these past two years to the previous fifty where such events where thankfully rare are Covid, a respiratory disease like many others, and the vaccines using brand new barely tested mRNA technology.
Given all of these sportsmen would be under 40 if even UK-based, they will all have had either Covid or mRNA jabs or both.
If I were a gambling man, I would speculate there is a problem with mRNA vaccines. A big one.
Does this put the terms into context though? If I wrote a maths paper saying bollocks to diversity, would it still count?
Not a chance – it wouldn’t get published!
Dear Scumbags, THIS is what you are being distracted from today.
Not surprising. I’m a retired doctor, and before retiring six years ago was often involved in applying for funding for projects. There was always a section on how your project would improve diversity, minority group blah blah. You just had to play the game and dribble in the drivel.
My wife’s choir has the same issues.
Eisenhower warned about the corruption of science and here is Richard Feynman in 1966
“We live in an unscientific age in which almost all the buffeting of communications and television-words, books, and so on-are unscientific. As a result, there is a considerable amount of intellectual tyranny in the name of science.”