From Mic, via AP:
You don’t need a scientific calculator to know that the March for Science was a massive success.
Stretching across the United States — as well as globally from the North Pole to New Zealand — the March for Science saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets on Earth Day in many cities, adding up to totals much higher nationwide.
Here are a few photos that begin to capture just how huge crowds nationwide became throughout the Earth Day celebration.More.
Actually, looking at the photos, as UD commenter Chris Haynes notes, the crowds are just not that impressive.
A number of foreseeable reasons come to mind, which makes one wonder about the impulse to hold marches (marchin’, marchin’) about problems that are mainly back at the desk, in the lab, and within decision-making bodies.
About the massive peer review mess, for example, only the peers can decide to do something, not the public—which supposedly “hates science” anyway.
And then there’s Bill Nye, telling CNN that if US policies
suppress science, if you pretend climate change isn’t a real problem, you will fall behind other countries that do invest in science, that do invest in basic research.”
Unless, of course, the US chooses to invest in something that pays off better, but never mind:
“And it is interesting to note, I think, that Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution refers to the progress of science and the useful arts,” he added. “Useful arts in 18th Century usage would be what we call engineering or city planning or architecture.”
Actually, it is commonly called the Copyright Clause:
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
A copyright clause doesn’t compel the United States’ government to fund anything or require it to develop an opinion about the present or future value of specific “Writings and Discoveries.” It provides a basis for developing laws to protect any works of that type, as intellectual property.
Time will tell but this stuff still sounds so retro. Like Harvest Gold appliances.
See also: Bill Nye too “white” for March for Science figurehead
and
Bill Nye would criminalize dissent from human-caused global warming claims.
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