From: L-Soft list server at St. John's University (1.8c) To: Ian Pitchford Subject: File: "SCI-CULT LOG9602" Date: Sunday, September 27, 1998 12:24 PM ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 9 Feb 1996 09:46:12 +0100 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Dirk Holemans Subject: conference - first call To whom it may concern: Dirk Holemans Member of the Local Organising Comittee: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IATAFI '96 First Call for Papers, Posters and Workshops ********************************************** Technology Assessment and Science Forecasting; Policy tools for implementing sustainable development *********************************************** Second International Conference and Bi-Annual Meeting of the International Association for Technology Assessment and Forecasting Institutions 8 - 10 October 1996 Brussels, Belgium ___________________________________________________________________________ Programme and Preliminary Themes of the IATAFI96 Conference Sustainable development is today high on several agenda's, including those of scientists and engineers. Since the Rio conference in 1992 and the adoption of the Agenda 21 action programme, the awareness has been rising that global sustainable solutions to todays many problems that challenge the future of the Earth and its population, will only be possibl when based on specific science and technology policies. Indeed, one of the main issues in Agenda 21 is the role of technologies and technology policies. It has been stressed that making the right choices in technology will be crucial and that environmentally sound technologies have to be developed. This urges to inquire on how Technology Assessment can be used in linking technology policies with the societal needs as expressed in agenda 21. Also, a critical mass of scientist and engineers is needed - especially in developing countries - for contributing on the fabrication of environmentally sound technologies. Science is today undoubtly the basis for agricultural and industrial development, as well for meeting the world's increasing energy demand, all this in a social, economical and political context . This will imply science foresight approaches for establishing priorities in research that are likely to yield 'sustainable' benefits and for translating those priorities into research initiatives. The IATAFI96 Conference will focus on both the past and future of the role of technology assessment and science forecasting as tools for implementing sustainable development policies. The main objectives of the conference are: 1. to make the link between science and technology policies and sustainable development; 2. to clarify the concepts and methods of the tools of technology assessment and science forecasting as applied to the issue of sustainable development; 3. to illustrate the main challenges in technological developments in areas such as: nuclear developments, space developments, energy/environmental technologies and basic need technologies (biodiversity, collective vs. individual needs); 4. to discuss the cultural, democratic challenges and the ethical aspects related to technological developments. Contributions and invited speakers will cover the above programma. At the time being, the following structure for the conference is put forward: I. The role of forecasting in achieving sustainable development - the nature and organisation of research and technology forecasting and the challenge of sustainable development - case studies -instruments for forecasting applied to sustainable development issues II. The role of TA in achieving sustainable development - the nature and organisation of technology assessment and the challenge of sustainable development - case studies - instruments for TA applied to sustainable development issues III. Institutional actors and the challenge of using TA and forecasting in building sustainable development capacities - the role of the international governmental and non-governmental organisations - the role of industry - the role of local and national public authorities __________________________________________________________________________ The Conference Organizing Committee: President: Prof. Dr. Luk Van Langenhove, Deputy Secretary General, Belgian Science Policy Office Members or the IATAFI executive Committee: Dr. Jan Anderson, President IATAFI, Bergen, Dr. Annamaria Inzelt, Budapest,Dr. Garry Williams, Argonne Washington, Prof. Baruch Raz, Paris, Dr. Matthias Kaiser, Bergen, Dr. Y.S. Rajan, India, Dr. Z.Y. Chen, Local organizing Committee: Prof. Jacques Berleur, N.D. de la Paix, Namur, Dr. R. Berloznik, Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek, Prof. Dr. Eggermont, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Dr. Walter Hecq, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Ir. Dirk Holemans, Universiteit Gent, Prof. Dr. Marc Mormont, Fondation Universitaire Luxembourgeoise, Dr. Jean Moulin, Belgian SciencePolicy Office, Ms. Catherine Orfinger, Belgian Science Policy Office, Dr. Gerard Valenduc, Fondation Travail - Universit! Namur, Dr. F. Picheault, Universit! de Li!ge ___________________________________________________________________________ PRACTICALITIES Registration Fee (USS): Individuals from Academic organisations 150 Individuals from IATAFI Member organisations 100 Individuals from Non Member Organizations and Industry 300 Students and persons from developing countries or countries with an economy in transition can apply for a special rate. (Address request to the IATAFI96 Secretariat) Paying the registration fee entitles the participants to: - receive the documents of the conference - attend the lectures and workshops - participate in the social programme - take meals at reduced price Being registered does not automatically entitle to give a paper. All those wishing to give a paper (or present a poster or organize a workshop) must submit an abstract that will be reviewed by the Programme Committee. __________________________________________________________________________ IATAFI 96 Submission Information Those proposing to submit a paper or poster for the IATAFI '96 Conference are requested to complete the "Registration Form" attached to this brochure. By 15 April 1996 an abstract in English of your paper, 200 - 400 words, on diskette and paper should be submitted to : IATAFI96 Secretariat c/o Statoil 5020 BERGEN, Norway. the E-mail address: iatafi@hibinc.no. Include : 1) Title 2) author(s) full name 3) organizational affiliation 4) complete mailing address 5) abstract hardcopy and diskette 6) key words 7) any other relevant information about the paper or poster All abstracts will be printed as part of the final programme issue. The papers will be published as IATAFI Conference Proceedings Vol. II. Inclusive in the final programme is contingent upon payment of registration fee, date 30 June 96. For details of payment and registration see enclosed datasheet. _______________________________________________________________________ Registration Form Name: Surname: Title: Sex: Affiliation: IATAFI-member organisation: University: Other: Address: I Intend to attend the IATAFI96 Conference from 8 to 10 October 1996 I shall pay the amount of 100/150/300 USDollar (details on payment procedure will be given with the acknowledgment of receipt of this form) I will be registered officially upon paying the above amount. I wish to give a paper / present a poster / organise a workshop: yes/no Signature: Date: to be sent to: IATAFI96 Secretariat c/o Statoil 5020 BERGEN, Norway. the E-mail address: iatafi@hibinc.no. _________________________________________________________________ Luk Van Langenhove, Adjunct Secretaris-Generaal Federale Diensten voor Wetenschappelijke, Technische en Culturele Aangelegenheden Wetenschapsstraat 8, B-1040 Brussel tel: +32/2/238 34 11 fax: +32/2/230 59 12 Center of Environmental Philosophy and Bioethics Dept. of Philosophy - University of Ghent Blandijnberg 2 9000 Ghent - Belgium Tel +32 9 2644135 Fax +32 9 2644187 e-mail dirk.holemans@rug.ac.be ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 12:50:31 +0000 Reply-To: Michael@strangelove.com Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Michael Strangelove Organization: Strangelove Internet Enterprises, Inc Subject: Utopia and New Media: A call for comments on an essay I am working on the relationship between utopic thinking and cyberspace (here meaning simply the Net) with focus on the question, "Why are communication technologies a perennial focus of utopic thought in society?" I have a four page thought-piece which outlines the direction I am taking at this point, and wish to solicit comments. Below is the first two paragraphs, if you are interested in the complete essay, just e-mail me at michael@strangelove.com and I will send it within a day. Utopia and Cyberspace: Why do new communication technologies foster hope? For six generations now, the production of the most widely shared and persuasive cultural meanings and symbols has belonged almost exclusively to the sphere of corporate media. In media culture, the primary economic unit is "symbolic capital" -- the ability to create and disseminate symbols of desire for mass consumption. The political economy of our mass media systems is hardly a mystery -- corporate media culture has established monopolies over the creation and dissemination of symbolic capital. It did not take the public long to realize that the concentration of symbolic capital in the hands of the few represented a fundamental threat to their communities, the marketplace, and the political process. This awareness of the trade imbalance within the media sphere prompts each generation of citizens in the technological era to greet the arrival of a new communication technology with euphoric predictions about the brave new world that awaits those who would build it. The passive consumer of broadcast-based media has never been completely naive about their "landless state" -- their lack of ownership and self-determination within the corporate media sphere. This imbalance within the media sphere's political economy, when combined with an increasingly self-aware audience that desires to be less passive and more interactive, inevitably fosters utopic attitudes towards new media technology. Each new media is seen as the promised messiah that will lead the people to the new Jerusalem of renewed democratic process, communal production and ownership of symbolic capital, and equality of representation within media itself. Out of the large universe of technologies why is it that communication technologies are the constant focal point for hope, a desire for a better world, and utopic thinking in Western civilization? The answer certainly must arise out of the intimate relationship between communication and human nature. For the complete essay, please do not reply to the list but send e-mail to michael@strangelove.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 18:42:41 +0000 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Robert Maxwell Young Subject: Hypermedia Research Centre I've just found a lovely site concerned with communications technologies: http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/ Lovely articles for viewing and downloading. HyperMedia Manifesto Manifesto the manifesto outline =20 Background Article the first hypermedia article =20 Contents list of sub-docum= ents =20 Archive get the whole structure in one file Practice =20 Surrealist Games cybernetic serendipity =20 Discussion Zone chew the fat ... have a chat =20 J's Joint Jamiroquai's cartoon h= ouse =20 Pop Art from Sarajevo artwork by TRIO from Sara= jevo =20 O2W3 Green Design Green Design for= um =20 Future Sound of London experiments in abstraction Theory =20 Californian Ideology never trust a hippie =20 Media Freedom democracy and representation =20 Dissimulations the illusion of interactivity =20 Babbage's Intelligence the labour of compu= ting =20 The Pinnochio Theory review of "Out of Control" =20 Basic Banalities elementary tr= uths =20 Electronic Democracy politics in cyberspace The HRC is a collaborative organisation, and welcomes feedback, contact us by sending eMail to hrc@hrc.wmin.ac.uk, or via the list of individuals here. These pages are designed to be viewed with the latest versions of NetScape. Extensive use of Tables has been made, so any client that handles them should suffice. Some care has been taken to assure that people without access to such a client will still get a reasonable experience. = =A9 __________________________________________ | Robert Maxwell Young: robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk | 26 Freegrove Rd., London N7 9RQ, England | tel. +44 171 607 8306 fax. +44 171 609 4837 | Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies, | Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies, University of Sheffield | Home page and writings: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/ 'One must imagine Sisyphus happy.' - Camus ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 10:35:38 EST Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: JJ Kane/NHSkeptics Organization: Armchair Research Subject: UFO's on NOVA, other videos An hour-long documentary on "UFO Abductions" is scheduled to air on PBS on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 8-9 p.m. It was produced by NOVA/WGBU Boston and will feature Robert Baker, Elizabeth Loftus and Carl Sagan. It is expected to be an even-handed (if not skeptical) examination of the topic. A profile of James "The Amazing Randi" Randi, arch-foe of phony psychics, is scheduled to appear on NBC's "Dateline" on Friday, Feb. 23. Check your local listings for time (9PM in most places). He's the one who has provided much of the information on the bogus "Quadro Tracker" drug-sniffing dowsing stick whose manufacturer now faces federal charges. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 09:56:55 -1000 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Mark Burch Subject: Re: skeptics In-Reply-To: <96Feb17.060918hst.11329(5)@relay1.Hawaii.Edu> I would like to see on PBS an expose of the simpleminded tactics of skeptics. AC Clarke is the worst. He exposes the charlatans without revealing that there are people that really do stick needles through their tongues and such. I would rather be entertained by charlatans anyway, than watch skeptics belabor the impoverishment of their imaginations. Skeptical about skeptics, Mark Burch _____________________________________________________________________________ On Sat, 17 Feb 1996, JJ Kane/NHSkeptics wrote: > An hour-long documentary on "UFO Abductions" is scheduled to air on > PBS on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 8-9 p.m. It was produced by NOVA/WGBU Boston > and will feature Robert Baker, Elizabeth Loftus and Carl Sagan. It is > expected to be an even-handed (if not skeptical) examination of the topic. > > A profile of James "The Amazing Randi" Randi, arch-foe of phony > psychics, is scheduled to appear on NBC's "Dateline" on Friday, Feb. 23. > Check your local listings for time (9PM in most places). He's the one > who has provided much of the information on the bogus "Quadro Tracker" > drug-sniffing dowsing stick whose manufacturer now faces federal charges. > ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 18 Feb 1996 19:51:27 -0700 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Lisa Rogers Subject: [sac] Call for Papers: New Economics of Science FYI Lisa Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 14:18:12 -0800 From: "Sylvia A. Phillips" Subject: Call for Papers: New Economics of Science The Need for a New Economics of Science Call for Papers University of Notre Dame March 13-16, 1997 Sponsored by: John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values and Office of Graduate Research Please send a few descriptive paragraphs with references and related articles by April 30, 1996 to: Philip Mirowski 406 Decio Hall University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN 46556-5644 U.S.A. Invited participants will receive travel support. We have applied for supplementary funding to assist with expenses of additional speakers, but this is not guaranteed at present. For further information contact either Philip Mirowski (mirowski.1@nd.edu) or Esther-Mirjam Sent (sent.2@nd.edu), Department of Economics, University of Notre Dame. http://www.nd.edu:80/~esent/conference Sylvia A. Phillips PH: 219-631-8294 416 Decio Hall FAX: 219-631-8209 University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN 46556-5644 Assistant to: Dr. Maureen Hallinan Dr. Philip Mirowski White Chair of Sociology & Koch Chair of Economics President of the & the History of Science American Sociological Association ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 20:29:03 +0000 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Robert Maxwell Young Subject: New Web Site for Science-as--Culture SCIENCE AS CULTURE WEB SITE: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/rmy/sac.html When the Science-as-Culture forum was first created it was envisaged that it would be related to a web site where various writings could appear: *articles under consideration for publication in Science as Culture *articles from back issues of the journal *and other longer pieces from whatever source which are too long for the forum or of interest to its subscribers. The object of this WWW site is to provide food for thought, to stimulate debate and to obtain constructive criticism for articles. That is, we hope to enhance interesting discussion about the issues which led us to set up the journal and email forum. Here is how it works. Anyone wishing to submit something to the web site should write to me at robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk, sending the essay, article or whatever by attachment or by email (formatting - italics, indents, spacing, bold, etc. - is retained in attachments, but they don't always get through). I will assess it (taking advice, if I think it relevant to do so) and (very likely) put it on the web site. We will play by ear how long things remain there. Some things may be removed in due course, others may be put on a web 'backlist' and remain available for downloading and/or reading on-line. (If the downloading doesn't work, all you have to do is copy the article and paste it onto a new blank document.) People can post comments to the forum, to me or to the author(s). This is a new venture for us and one I have not seen tried before on the internet, although I doubt if it is unique. The Sheffield web site will be mirrored at St. Johns in New York to make downloading quicker. We welcome comments and suggestions about how to make this work better. Bob Young Editor and Forum Moderator The first articles on the site are: 1. Simon Schaffer, 'Babbage's Intelligence' In summer 1823 the new and controversial Astronomical Society of London decided to award its gold medal to one of its own founder members, the equally controversial Cambridge-trained mathematician Charles Babbage. The award formed part of an energetic campaign to launch the construction of a Difference Engine to calculate navigational and astronomical tables. The apotheosis of the intelligent machine was an integral part of Babbage's ambitious programme. This programme has been used here to illuminate the complex character of systematic vision in the Industrial Revolution. Under consideration for _Science as Culture_ 2. Richard Barbrook, 'The Californian Ideology' There is an emerging global orthodoxy concerning the relation between society, technology and politics. In this paper we are calling this orthodoxy the Californian Ideology in honour of the state where it originated. By naturalising and giving a technological proof to a political philosophy, and therefore foreclosing on alternative futures, the Californian ideologues are able to assert that social and political debates about the future have now become meaningless and - horror of horrors - unfashionable. Under consideration for _Science as Culture_ Both of these are also on-line at the very interesting web site of the Hypermedia Research Centre, about which I spoke recently and where there Are other interesting materials: http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/ An essay of mine, 'A plae for Critique in the Mass Media', which is now at my web site will be available on the SaC web site in a day or two. I look forward to your submissions and comments and discussion. You don't have to be a subscriber to the forum to access and make use of the articles, But I hope you will want to join in. __________________________________________ | Robert Maxwell Young: robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk | 26 Freegrove Rd., London N7 9RQ, England | tel. +44 171 607 8306 fax. +44 171 609 4837 | Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies, | Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies, University of Sheffield | Home page and writings: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/ 'One must imagine Sisyphus happy.' - Camus ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 22:38:21 EST Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: JJ Kane/NHSkeptics Organization: Armchair Research Subject: Evolution and the law In-Reply-To: <9602192239.AA02877@pv746d.vincent.iastate.edu> A memo from the National Center for Science Education, regarding briliance in the area of legislative grasp of science: > ------- Start of forwarded message ------- > From: NCSE@crl.com > February 14, 1996 > > Tennessee State Representative Zane Whitson has introduced a bill > that would make it a crime to teach evolution in Tennessee. The > bill, labeled HB2972 in the house, and SB 3229 in the Senate, adds > the following section to the Tennessee Code: > > Section 49-6-1012. No teacher or administrator in a local education > agency shall teach the theory of evolution except as a scientific > theory. Any teacher or administrator teaching such theory as fact > commits insubordination, as defined in Section 49-5-5 01(s)(6), and > shall be dismissed or suspended as provided in Section 49-5-511. > > This legislation is scheduled for consideration by the House Education > Committee, and the K-12 Subcommittee of the Senate Education > Committee, on the morning of February 21 -- just a few days from now! > > In our experience, any legislation that singles out evolution reduces > the extent of instruction in evolution; teachers simply avoid the > subject. This legislation is extreme, not only because of the threat > that teachers will be fired, but because there is no way the teachers > can obey it, given the matter-of-fact treatment of evolution in > textbooks. The real effect of the law would be that evolution is not > taught at all. Many NCSE members will want to inform their state > legislators about their opinion of this law, as well as writing > letters to editors of local newspapers. If you are represented by > Senator Burks or Representative Whitson, the bill's sponsors, it is > especially important for them to understand that they do not > represent the opinions of all constituents. > > [ . . . ] > > Molleen Matsumura > Network Project Director > > Tennesseans can mail ncse@crl.com to get further > information on the bill. > ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 16:47:48 -0500 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Karen Mercedes Subject: Re: Evolution and the law In-Reply-To: <199602201252.HAA18486@mail1.access.digex.net> So the question is, do teachers have first amendment rights in the classroom? If so, how soon after the legislation is enacted (if it is) do you anticipate the first court case? Karen Mercedes mercedes@access.digex.net ===== On Mon, 19 Feb 1996, JJ Kane/NHSkeptics wrote: > A memo from the National Center for Science Education, regarding > briliance in the area of legislative grasp of science: > > > > ------- Start of forwarded message ------- > > From: NCSE@crl.com > > February 14, 1996 > > > > Tennessee State Representative Zane Whitson has introduced a bill > > that would make it a crime to teach evolution in Tennessee. The > > bill, labeled HB2972 in the house, and SB 3229 in the Senate, adds > > the following section to the Tennessee Code: ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 15:36:07 -0700 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Lisa Rogers Subject: SAC: teachers' speech rights >>> Karen Mercedes 2/20/96, 02:47pm >>> So the question is, do teachers have first amendment rights in the classroom? *** Nope. Not in Utah. I suspect everyone is limited somewhat when on the job, but the state leg. passes specific laws on what teachers can and cannot say. For instance, when/if teaching anything on health or sex, teachers are not allowed to 'promote contraception' and specifically cannot say the "c" word - condom. Schools all use a 'just say no to sex' curriculum, with materials prescribed by law, purchased from a company that is owned by a person who was a state legislator who _introduced the bill_ while in office. It passed, it makes hir lots of money. But it's not unethical, it didn't break any rules, because we have no ethics rules. To suggest rules is insulting, you see, because it intimates that they need rules, but they don't need rules, as we can see, because they have no ethics problems, because there are no ethics rules to break... They are also not allowed to 'promote homosexuality' which includes any suggestion that it is not 'abnormal.' Not everything is spelled out in state law, but some things are, and the school districts work out the details of guidelines and specific curricula, model classroom worksheets for students, etc. Sickening. Right now the big legislative topic is not what to do about being nearly last in the nation in spending per pupil, nearly the 'top' in classroom size, or big differences between schools in different neighborhoods / districts, it is all about how to try to get around the Supreme Court decision in order to ban or regulate out of existence a Gay-Straight Alliance support group and anti-homophobia club at the high school. They wouldn't need to form a club if it were not for the gay-bashing that is on-going. But safe schools? And actual education? Not on the Eagle Forum agenda. Scuze the rant, the leg is only in session for 3 months out of the year, and its a very stressful and busy time right now for activists who care about these things... Lisa Rogers former science teacher ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 18:44:13 -0500 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Norman Levitt Subject: Re: SAC: teachers' speech rights In-Reply-To: <199602202239.RAA11608@math.rutgers.edu> (message from Lisa Rogers on Tue, 20 Feb 1996 15:36:07 -0700) Now,now, all you science-as-culture guys. Having promoted epistemic relativism in all things, science especially, you can hardly object when the Great State of Tennesse takes you at your word. Just a different Commmunity of Knowers, that's all. N. Levitt ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 19:24:55 -0500 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: ANTOINE GOULEM Subject: Re: SAC: teachers' speech rights In-Reply-To: <199602202356.SAA08942@alcor.concordia.ca> On Tue, 20 Feb 1996, Norman Levitt wrote: > Now,now, all you science-as-culture guys. Having promoted epistemic > relativism in all things, science especially, you can hardly object > when the Great State of Tennesse takes you at your word. Just a > different Commmunity of Knowers, that's all. > > N. Levitt > Our friend Norman (Higher Superstition) Levitt has a point, except for his exclusionary language. A very difficult argument has to be made that in circumscribing the conditions under which evolution can be taught, what in fact is going on, is that a conservative agenda is attempting to reintroduce creationism as a scientific doctrine. It seems to me that creationism is and always was a side issue. The very same abhorent views are now being espoused by well funded racists like Rushton, Herrnestein and Murray, couched in roughly darwinian terms. Its the bigotry that has to be resisted. The question of the legislature monitoring the content of the class room is a very tricky one. Can it be argued that they have no responsiblity what so ever as regards the content of the class room. The bottom line is that they were elected to office, and the place to fight these attacks is everywhere, and all the time. Good luck. Antoine Goulem ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 20:12:10 -0500 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Norman Levitt Subject: Re: SAC: teachers' speech rights In-Reply-To: <199602210028.TAA14238@math.rutgers.edu> (message from ANTOINE GOULEM on Tue, 20 Feb 1996 19:24:55 -0500) Dr. Goulem's passion for justice is admirable, but not necessarily his history or sociology. The creationists aren't interested in having their doctrine accepted as "science"; they're interested in having their doctrine accepted as doctrine. If they could bypass "science" altogether, most of them would be just as happy to do so. "Creation Science" (which doesn't bear on the Tenn. bill directly) is a necessary tactical ploy. In any case, those of you who read SJ Gould are perfectly aware that the Fundamentalist opponents of evolution in the '20's were emphatically anti-social-Darwinist as well. Most of them aren't all that crazy about hereditarianism or eugenics even today. Herrnstein and Rushton, like it or not, are hard-core evolutionists, and probably have as little use for revealed religion as anyone. It would be nice if you could tie all the bad guys together in a neat package, but life ain't like that. Oh, as for racism, a lot of the black churches are just as "Creationist" as Duane Gish. Moreover, assuming these guys (creationists) have good lawyers (and they do) you'll be hearing a lot of your very favorite pomo science-critics being quoted in favor of the bible-thumpers if this stuff ever goes to court. I mean, that is, Bloor, Barnes, Pickering, Woolgar, Fuller, Harding, Haraway, Latour, Collins, Shapin, Pinch, Forman, Callon, and, of course, that newcomer from the wonderful wacky world of lit-crit, Barbara Herrnstein-Smith. Of course, there's Sheila Jasanoff. If memory serves--and it does, since it was only a week ago--she mentioned, during her AAAS talk in Baltimore that Creationism in the schools is nothing to get in an uproar about--after all, the truth of truth claims has nothing to do with the social mechanisms whereby claims are adjudicated--right?? But--oh, my--if truth claims--putative IS-es--are infra dig, what are we to make of value-claims--OUGHTs? Not much, I'd think. But where would our friend Antoine's indignant missive be without'em? Imagine that!! Epistemic relativism alongside moral absolutism. Surprise, Surprise!! (Not really). As ever, N. Levitt Theorem-prover (semi-retired) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 11:46:09 +0000 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Em Farrell test __________________________________________ | Robert Maxwell Young: robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk | 26 Freegrove Rd., London N7 9RQ, England | tel. +44 171 607 8306 fax. +44 171 609 4837 | Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies, | Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies, University of Sheffield | Home page and writings: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/ 'One must imagine Sisyphus happy.' - Camus ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 23 Feb 1996 16:42:44 -0800 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Tom Athanasiou Subject: Science Wars In the "Advertizing for Myself" department, here's a little something I have in the new issue of Socialist Review. I'm sure that not all the people on this list will agree with my point of view, but what the hell. Comments appreciated. -- toma ****** SCIENCE WARS? ... A Book, a Conference, and a Bit of a Polemic HIGHER SUPERSTITION The Academic Left and its Quarrels with Science Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt (Baltimore: John Hopkins University, 1994) THE FLIGHT FROM SCIENCE AND REASON Conference at the New York Academy of Sciences May 31 - June 2, 1995, New York Tired of the culture wars? Get ready for the science wars. Get ready, too, to imagine some proper limits for the all-encompassing ambitions of discourse theory. With HIGHER SUPERSTITION, a gauntlet has been thrown down, and we should not assume that we are altogether ready to pick it up. HIGHER SUPERSTITION was published in 1994, and reviews have either praised it as a defense of science against a rising irrationalism or excoriated it as a shrill conservative attack on multiculturalism, feminism, "the postmodern academy," and indeed, democracy. THE FLIGHT FROM SCIENCE AND REASON funded in part by the right-wing Olin Foundation, aimed to showcase the authors and ideas of HIGHER SUPERSTITION. It didn't ignite a full-blown science war, but it was not a failure. FLIGHT brought several hundred scientists, academics, and miscellaneous "rationalists" together and invited them to feel outraged and besieged. It did not win the massive press coverage its organizers had hoped for, but it was not altogether ignored. And, certainly it was a warning. FLIGHT offered a grim view of a sterile pseudo-debate we should try desperately to avoid. If the science wars do spread, HIGHER SUPERSTITION will figure large in their myths of origin. It will be their founding manifesto, as FLIGHT will be remembered as their call to arms. Spare a moment, then, if only as preparation for battle, to consider the situation, indeed the danger, as Gross and Levitt see it. To wit, that science -- and indeed the whole Enlightenment tradition of precise, disciplined critical-empirical thinking -- is being battered by endless waves of "irrationalism." Among the people, this irrationalism takes various forms -- New Ageism; a belief that angels walk among us; faith in "non-Western" medicine; woo-woo ecofeminism and more broadly "Edenic" environmentalism; and on the right, creationism and the hard assertion of fundamentalist moral verities. Among the "academic left," where cultural/professional dynamics make specific stylistic demands, "irrationalism" centers on the fad for "the overpriced vaporware of postmodern skepticism" and on claims for an "epistemological democracy" in which it is affirmed by both polite and politically correct necessity that all claims to truth are equally marked by culture and contingency. This apocalypse of relativism, of course, has its horsemen, and if one judges by the bile and rhetoric at THE FLIGHT FROM SCIENCE AND REASON, Sandra Harding (a key feminist critic of science) and Bruno Latour (a leading light of post structuralist "science studies") head their ranks. But Harding and Latour are hardly alone. All the stars of left science studies won their share of the day's vitriol, as did friends of acupuncture, psychoanalysis [!], and UFOlogy; a few select freelance "neo-Luddite" intellectuals like Jeremy Rifkin and the Unabomber; the Nazis (of course); and all of the long columns of barbarian epistemologists that threaten to lay waste to the towers of reason. HIGHER SUPERSTITION is thick with references, and quite comprehensive. It even cites SOCIALIST REVIEW, critiquing both Steven Epstein and myself. (We are both dismissed during larger polemics, yet notably by way of backhanded compliments that are not altogether unfair.) Gross and Levitt, in other words, have done their homework. They know the left science-studies literature or have at least picked over it with care. This makes HIGHER SUPERSTITION an ambitious book by any measure. It is also intermittently a fair one, and this despite being ill-spirited, prone to self-serving caricature, and sharply conservative in its overall thrust. It's tough to suggest, with anything like focus and brevity, the overall stakes in the science wars. It may help, though, to note a key word in these debates -- "technoscience" -- and to wonder at the deliberate conflation at its core. This conflation is, after all, heavy with ramifications. "Technoscience," to make a very long story short, is, in today's left academy, almost invariably taken as the proper object of study whenever science is at issue. And why not? "Technoscience" (rather than, say, "rationality") is what we EXPERIENCE--cars, power plants, computer networks, etc.; it is the proper object of cultural studies; it is what binds "science" to industry, to culture, to ideology, and to history. Feminist and left critics of science concern themselves, first of all, with science embodied, science as power. "Rationalists" like Gross and Levitt are more than irritated by this move, for they seek to save "reason" and even, still, to insist that it is neutral. That is not my problem, though I agree that "irrationalism" -- e.g., the recent rapid increase in the number of Americans who say they believe in reincarnation -- is very much a significant and worrisome matter, and though I suspect that the habits of "epistemological democracy," in biasing us to forgive even overt mysticism as a form of resistance to "scientific expertise," do not serve us well. My question is rather why radical critics of science feel compelled to push beyond the rich fields of "weak" constructivism -- that "science" as we know it is deeply marked by the logic and metaphor of expertise and domination, and by its servitude to capital -- and to claim as well that there can never be anything like an objective knowledge of nature, that all we know as scientific is, in reality, socially constructed in some absolute sense. Now, obviously "nature" is socially constructed in the sense that only social beings can "know" anything about it. This is true, and it remains true even if it is not always interesting. Also, and just as obviously, the insistence that scientific "facts" are socially and often politically constructed remains key to the liberationist agenda -- THE BELL CURVE demonstrated, if further demonstration was necessary, that the right finds enduring use for determinism and reductionism. But this is only the problem; it does not follow that the solution lies in ideological antis-reductionism, at least not if anti-reductionism is understood (as it often is) as a denigration of "empirical truth." The best and the brightest in the pomo academy, of course, do not indulge such a crude view. Though literary and scientific facts are both constructed, it is taken for granted that they are constructed differently. In pomo culture in general, however, this subtlety gets lost in the popular notion that all "facts," marked as the suspect claims of "experts," are self-serving and subjective. What concerns me, in other words, is how the claim that all truths are constructed fades into the sense, pervasive and corrosive, that all claims are crooked. The ecologist claims that amphibians are in trouble; the developer does not agree, or says that it doesn't matter. Children, given a chance, will generally remember that it matters to the frogs, but how often do their parents, hearing tell of such dispute, shrug off both views as punditry and rubbish? Left critics of science have long taken it for granted that their proper and most radical vocation is to go beyond critiques of "bad science" to stress the social and political construction of all science, and indeed of all knowledge. This move is profoundly emancipatory, and I do not refuse it, but we should not imagine that the question of "good" and "bad" science has become irrelevant. The right, in fact, has discovered anew the utility of science as political weapon, as is clear in their attacks on the environmental movement. A sophisticated school of critics has made advances by systematic caricature, painting greens as apocalyptics enthralled to (in Gross and Levitt's term) "ecotopian enthusiasms" and altogether out of touch with the realities of nature. Science, anti-green science, says there is no problem. The battle for ecology is one in which "good science" is claimed by all, a battle in which greens must not simply deconstruct the claims of the right, but do so in a particular way: greens must show that anti-environmental science is not only politically motivated, but also is generally WRONG. The green movement, in other words, must know the power of both science and ideology, and how to tell the difference. It must be able to dissect corporate pseudo-science in clear, colorful English and to do so without gesturing at relativism. It must enjoy and continually re-earn a reputation for having the "best" science in town. We don't have such a movement today, and it is not obvious that a theory of science structured by "hard" constuctivist claims that treat "scientific truth" as entirely subordinate to culture and power will aid in its emergence. That said, I would make a plea for learning from HIGHER SUPERSTITION. It is the perfect object of study, for while it is thick with leaden caricature and cheap shots, it also contains passages that frankly ring all too true. There is much in Sandra Harding that is provocative, but this hardly means that her mix of polemic and analysis is unimpeachable; sometimes it is merely overdrawn. There is nothing wrong with philosophy by polemic, but should we be surprised that Harding's claim, in THE SCIENCE QUESTION IN FEMINISM, that the queen of the sciences is not physics but anthropology, eventually produced an equally polemical response? [1] And though Bruno Latour's case studies of laboratory science have been quite useful, his boundless confidence in the post-structuralist challenge to all hitherto existing forms of reason strikes me, for one, as just a bit overweening. [2] And when we leave the academy and consider popular critiques of technoscience, honesty compels at least ambivalence -- there is much here that is actively debilitating. [3] Distinctions are necessary. In this dark time of dying cultures, languages, and ecosystems, friends of justice are necessarily drawn to what anthropologist Arturo Escobar calls "civilizational pluralism." How difficult, though, when "Western civilization" identifies itself so strongly with the pretensions of science, to admit that "epistemological democracy" is a different matter. How difficult, in this time of technology and monoculture, to consider that there might be moments of autonomy, and even of innocence, in science and its claims to "truth." We are disarmed by the sloppy, abstract thinking in our ranks. Just before FLIGHT, I had a review in The NATION that attacked Martin Lewis, a young liberal academic making his career by carrying water for the anti-environmental right. Lewis was a featured speaker at the conference, and I rose to criticize him, identifying myself as one who was taken to task in HIGHER SUPERSTITION. Then something curious occurred. Levitt rose in response and charged me with a damning juxtaposition -- the very issue that contains my review contains as well a load of blather by Kirkpatrick Sale, and this, insisted Levitt, perfectly illustrated the justice of Lewis's attack on environmentalism. At the time I could not reply. Here I will only say that I had found Sale and his glib decentralism an embarrassment long before that warm afternoon. Caricature is a favorite weapon of the right. When it comes to ecology, it figures large in attacks by not only Gross, Levitt, and Lewis, but also Julian Simon, Gregg Easterbrook, anti-environmental think tanks like the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and dozens of corporate PR departments. About the science wars in general, Andrew Ross is quite right -- we should "be prepared for another season of asinine anecdotes about feminist algebra, queer quantum physics, and Afrocentric molecular biology." [4] He's right, of course, but this is hardly the end of the story. There's a lot of garbage around -- like, say, THE TAO OF PHYSICS -- and I fail to see why we should not admit it. Caricature does not clear the way to a better understanding of "irrationalism," but neither does silence. Why should we not admit that the WORST of ecofeminism is very bad indeed? [5] Does democracy demand it? Solidarity? And do we really intent that, in the end, epistemology shall be annexed to Cultural Studies? 1) Sandra Harding, THE SCIENCE QUESTION IN FEMINISM (Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press, 1986). 2) Try an experiment. Pick up a copy of Latour's latest, WE HAVE NEVER BEEN MODERN (Harvard, 1993) and read it with a critical rather than a sympathetic eye. 3) The "neo-Luddite" literature is, shall we say, uneven? Consider, for starters, Jeremy Rifkin, Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben, Jerry Mander, Kirkpatrick Sale, and, of course, the Unabomber. 4) Andrew Ross, "Science Backlash on Technoskeptics," THE NATION, October 2, 1995, p. 346. 5) Here's an unfashionable book that deserves revisiting -- Janet Biehl's RETHINKING ECOFEMINIST POLITICS (Boston: South End, 1991), republished as FINDING OUR WAY (Montreal: Black Rose, 1994). *** Tom Athanasiou is the author of DIVIDED PLANET: THE ECOLOGY OF RICH AND POOR, forthcoming this winter from Little/Brown. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 24 Feb 1996 15:17:50 +0000 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Robert Maxwell Young Subject: _Science as Culture_ no.23 has appeared: free sample offer _SCIENCE AS CULTURE_ Number 23 (vol. 5, Part 2) has appeared in North America and will be out soon elsewhere. For a free sample copy, email pp@rmy1.demon.co.uk, asking for a sample of SaC. (Be sure to include your your snailmail address.) CONTENTS 'What Scientists Have to Learn' by Robert M. Young 'Body Wars, Body Victories: AIDS and Homosexuality in Immunological Discourse' by Catherine Waldby 'Manufacturing Consensus? Reflections on the UK National Consensus Conference on Plant Biotechnology' by lan Barns 'Reading the Human Genome Narrative' by Jose Van Dijck 'Animal Experiments, Scientific Uncertainty, and Public Unease' by Mike Michael and Lynda Birke 'Brains from Space: Mapping the Mind in 1950s Science and Cinema' by Jeffrey Sconce 'The Limits of Bioethics' Essay review by David King 'Industrial Meanings' Essay review by Gordon Fyfe 167pp. _Science as Culture_ is published quarterly by Process Press Ltd. in Britain: http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/gpp/process.html and Guilford Publications Inc. in North America: info@guilford.com. For information about subscriptions and a list of back issues, go to: http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/gpp/process.html#science or to http://rdz.stjohns.edu/gp/process.html.#science A web site associated with the journal and forum holds articles from back issues of the journal, as well as submissions under consideration (not obligatory), whose authors may benefit from constructive comments for purposes of revisions before the hard copy is printed, as well as longer piece not suitable for the email format which forum members may wish to discuss: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/rmy/sac.html __________________________________________ | Robert Maxwell Young: robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk | 26 Freegrove Rd., London N7 9RQ, England | tel. +44 171 607 8306 fax. +44 171 609 4837 | Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies, | Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies, University of Sheffield | Home page and writings: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/ 'One must imagine Sisyphus happy.' - Camus ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 10:44:44 -0600 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Gerry San Pedro Subject: UNSUBCRIBE UNSUBCRIBE SCIENCE-AS-CULTURE ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 15:17:46 EST Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: JJ Kane/NHSkeptics Organization: Armchair Research Subject: teach... your children well... Two cents from Dennis Showers : >>Course Title: Inquiry Tools for Modern Issues Course Description: The examination of claims about the world from a variety of perspectives from the natural and social sciences and mathematics. Current and practical topics will be examined to illustrate such areas of analysis as the sociological study of rumor transmission, eyewitness psychology, the psychology of perception, cognition and decision-making, causality in a physical universe, sciences and their relationships to pseudosciences, and education for a democratic society. Purpose and Objectives Purpose: The purpose of this course is to present a view of the world as a place of physical causality and knowing through evidence and logic, for students' considerations. The course draws from several disciplines in the natural and social sciences which conceive of the universe as knowable through understanding physical causality. Students will be challenged to confront their beliefs about how they know the world and the cultural influences that helped to make them who they are. Objectives: 1.By the completion of the course, students will develop a personal definition of rational world-view that represents the ideas that a rational world-view sees the world as a place of physical causality, chance occurrence, and human construction of knowledge. 2.By the completion of the course, the student will be able to critique the rational world-view as to its strengths and limitations and define in her or his own words the role of critical factual analysis in the intellectual life of an educated person. 3.By the completion of the course, the student will be able to describe similarities and differences between the foundations of the natural sciences and social sciences as to methods, proof, and the nature of problems addressed by the disciplines. 4.By the completion of the course, the student will be able to describe the nature of collaboration in learning and how one develops the ability for self-assessment and self-adjustment. The student will use his or her own experience in the course to show how this experience exemplifies collaboration and self-directed growth. 5.The student will complete representative projects in the disciplines studied in the course. Each student will critically examine the work of other students in the class and report such critiques in writing. Each student will respond, in writing, to the critiques of other students to her or his own work. (See the proposed Evaluation Procedures) 6.By the completion of the course, the student will demonstrate a grasp of Declarative and procedural knowledge in each of the fields studied in the course by completing projects negotiated between the instructors of the course and the students. The student will be able to identify some strengths and limitations of each discipline examined. 1 Declarative knowledge is educational jargon for knowledge about a thing. 2 Procedural knowledge is knowledge about how to do something, e.g. knowledge of the steps or rules that guide a process, but not necessarily the ability to execute those steps. Detailed Content Outline The major portions of the course outline reflect the organization of the course as envisioned in its first offering. It is expected that with a variety of faculty collaborating on offering sections of this course, substitutions would be made, e.g. a unit on Evolutionary theory might be substituted for the Astronomy unit in one offering. I. Introduction II. The universe in which we reside A. Light and its message B. Deep space, deep time C. Galaxies - signposts of the universe D. The question of dark matter E. A modern vision of the universe F. Origins and fate of the universe III. Evidence: a psychological perspective A. Organization in perception B. The context effect in perception and cognition C. Mental models and reasoning D. Heuristics and biases in judgement and decision-making E. Eyewitness testimony IV. Evidence: a sociological perspective A. True and false rumors B. Sociological perspectives on rumor C. Evaluation of rumors V. Evidence: a social psychological perspective A. Just world belief and perceptual biases B. Base-rate fallacy VI. Evidence: a philosophy of science perspective A. A brief history of science B. The structure of science C. The Scientific Method vs. scientific methods D. Value judgements by scientists E. Popper, Kuhn, and the post-Kuhnians F. Medicine and the double-blind experiment VII. The Mathematics of chance A. Probability theory B. Decision-making and probability C. Quantitative risk assessment VIII. The role of education and debate in the democratic society A. Schools as inculcating existing social values B. Schools as challenging existing social values C. The public debate Representative issues of the type that might be examined in the course * A. Astrology and astronomy B. Evolution and creation C. UFOs: the evidence for and against D. PSI phenomena E. Alternative medicines F. Subliminal persuasion G. Conspiracy theories H. Managing risks in a technological society I. False memory syndrome *This list would vary based on the expertise of the particular faculty teaching the course, the specific topics and disciplines studied in parts I through VIII, and the negotiations with and interests expressed among the students. Although the list of issues appears at the end of the course outline, the issues would be the focal points of the course and would be introduced from the very beginning. Evaluation Procedures: Reflective journal 15% Students will be given guidance in reflective journal writing to enable them to self assess their writing. The grade for the journal will be a combination of teacher assessment and student assessment of the writing and its progress over the semester. Student writing will, at times, be guided by asking for responses to specific reflection questions given to or identified by the students. Group collaborative project 40% Each student will take a role in a collaborative group project. Each group will identify an issue of interest and possible ways that the issues could be approached, e.g. psychologically, sociologically, statistically, experimentally. After approval of one or both instructors, members of the team will assume roles of different points of view and work on the issue. The different "experts" will prepare a presentation for the other members of the group. The group will prepare a 30 minute presentation for the class. Each member of the group will assess the contribution of each member of the group to the final product (15% of each student's grade). Each member of the class will assess the quality of every group based on the presentation they make to the class (10% of each student's grade). A class instructor will assess the written report (15% of each student's grade). Individual research project 35% Each student project will be completed by submitting a draft to another student in the class for his or her critique. The student to whom the project or paper belongs will then respond to the critique and attach the critique and the response to the paper before submitting it. The student's own project report decides 25% of his/her final grade and the critique of another student's project determines 10% of the final grade. Class participation 10% Class participation will consist of a combination of the teacher's assessment of the student's performance and the student's assessment of same. Participation will include meaningful engagement in class activities and involvement in student-led discussion groups. Each student must join a group of four to eight students who must arrange to meet for one hour every other week in addition to class time. These groups will be given reflection questions to initiate discussion and from there the activity will be student led. Each group will keep minutes of its discussions to be given to an instructor and available for use in class discussions. Representative Bibliography Gilovich, T. (1991). How we know what isn't so. The Free Press. Harris, M. (1986). Investigating the unexplained. Prometheus Books: Buffalo. Losee, J. (1977). A historical introduction to the philosophy of science. Oxford University Press. Matthews, M.R. (1991). History, philosophy, and science teaching. Teacher's College Press. New York. Metcalf, L. (1987). Controversial Isues: their proper treatment. Social Education. October Morris, H.M. (1984). The Biblical basis for modern science. Baker Book House: Grand Rapids, MI. Nessier, U. (1982). Memory observed: remembering in natural contexts. Perry, J.B. Jr, & Pugh, M.D. (1990). Collective Behavior: response to social stress. West Publishing Co. St. Paul. Rich, J.M. (1987). Censorship and freedom to learn. Social Education. October. Spector, M, & Kitsuse, J.I. (1987). Constructing Social problems. Aldine de Gruyter: New York. Wells, G.L. & Loftus, E.F. (1984). Eyewitness testimony: psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. Yearley, S. (1991). The green case: a sociology of environmental issues, arguments and politics. Harper Collins Academic: New York <<<< ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 12:56:42 -1000 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Mark Burch Subject: Chomsky on postmodernism (fwd) Here is Chomsky's views on pomo. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 3 Aug 1995 10:50:21 -1000 From: Louis N Proyect To: marxism@jefferson.village.virginia.edu Cc: marxism@jefferson.village.virginia.edu Subject: Chomsky on postmodernism Louis Proyect: McCHESNEY: Relating to what you just said, one of the ironies, or perhaps better put tragedies, with the global crisis and the collapse of democratic forms and the decline of living standards, within the academy itself much of what considers itself opposition thinking, critical thinking, has tended increasingly toward saying these issues are not... CHOMSKY: Real? McCHESNEY: Yes, that they are not important anymore. CHOMSKY: The postmodernist thing. There are no facts. Everything is a form of oppression. McCHESNEY: Everything is relative and rationalism is a white male heterosexual invention. CHOMSKY: If you compare this stuff with the 1930s when left intellectuals were involved with workers' education, writing books like "Mathematics for the Millions" and so on, the difference is dramatic. In my view this is one of the most dangerous things happening. McCHESNEY: I thought your essay in Z Papers [Sept. Dec. 1992] on this subject was brilliant, especially your debate with the person who claimed that a Chinese woman could think it was simultaneously raining and not raining. CHOMSKY: Sure. It's just racist and sexist to have any other idea. How could a peasant know that it matters whether it is raining? I mean, this is crazy. They are disempowering people. McCHESNEY: Where does this stuff come from? CHOMSKY: I think it's easy to see where it comes from. Suppose you are a young person and you would like to have an academic career, and you'd like to have a cushy job and write articles that are going to advance it, go to conferences, and at the same time be morally superior to everybody else and be on the left. It is designed for that. McCHESNEY: It certainly is going to be self-fulfilling, because these people have to have journals and careers and train their own grad students. It's going to be around for a long time. CHOMSKY: There is an article by Steve Vieux in "Race and Class" on exactly this point, about the social role of postmodernism in undermining oppositional and dissident tendencies. It's very accurate, I think. McCHESNEY: I used to read a lot of this stuff and use it in classes because grad students were interested in it. But the last two or three years I have just dropped altogether because I see it as fruitless. CHOMSKY: Well, for one thing, ninety percent of it is just gibberish. Also, it is a big mistake to think of it as being left. It's not left. In fact, I do go to a lot of universities and colleges. You can go to a place that is a very right-wing college where nobody thinks of anything, but the students are all upset about their oppression, ethnic this and so on and so forth. This is the sort of thing that catches very easily with right- wing groups. (From part 2 of an interview with Noam Chomsky by Robert W. McChesney in the May/June 1995 issue of "Against the Current". McChesney is the author of "Telecommunications, Mass Media, and Democracy: The Battle for Control of U.S. Broadcasting, 1928-1935) --- from list marxism@lists.village.virginia.edu --- ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 17:54:46 EST Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: JJ Kane/NHSkeptics Organization: Armchair Research Subject: Re: A really "new" sort of "science." In-Reply-To: James Randi --- Wizard writes: > NEW, EXCITING, BREAKTHROUGHS IN SCIENCE! > During their hearing in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, the officers of the Quadro Corporation -- who designed, manufactured and sold the wondrous "high tech drug & weapons detector" device that turned out to be (why are we not surprised?) a total fake -- were told that their toy had been carefully examined and that no "inductors, conductors, or oscillators" were to be found. [ed.note: the Quadro Tracker sells for $1000, and consists of a black plastic handgrip with a horizontal telescoping radio antenna mounted so it can pivot side to side. It bears a suspicious family resemblance to a type of dowsing rod invented in 1538.] Quadro had advertised such components as the working parts of the "secret technology" invented by these innovative chaps. The Quadro folks then explained to the astounded courtroom that these were not "ordinary" inductors, conductors, or oscillators that they used in the device. No, they said, these were of an advanced sort not yet known to "regular science." It just shows you what we've yet to learn. Break. Though the spectators laughed at the Quadro officers who espoused this sillyness, there is a very strong message in this declaration. I honestly believe that Quattlebaum, Roe, and Fisk (the three major officers of Quadro Corporation) said this because they not only have no basic knowledge of what science is, but also because they believe that real scientists make statements, and use specialized language, without having to think through the process by which they arrived at their conclusions. The Quadro people think that any opinion or statement of theirs is as good as any made by anyone else. And that, friends, is exactly what the antiscience movement would have us follow as a working principle. And it's very, very, wrong. Quattlebaum, Roe, and Fisk (QR&F) are immensely proud of their lack of scientific training. In their ignorance (I do not use the term in a derogatory sense) they can believe they are right, and I'm sure will never change that opinion -- no matter what amount of evidence is produced before them to show that they are wrong. There are two groups of victims here. First, and most important, is the large number of customers who purchased the Quadro (whether in the form of a Golf Ball Finder, a Dog Locater, or the QRS 250G model) along with those who spent large sums to purchase local franchises. These folks were excited by a new discovery seemingly made by a down-home good-old-boy bunch of entrepreneurs who had defied orthodoxy like the Wright Brothers. And, they wanted in on the ground floor. Though there might have been a bit of shark in their characters, they were basically honest guys who bit the wrong bait. The second group of victims in this drama is the Quadro triumvirate. They probably believed in it all at one point, then saw that it was not working, made a few adjustments in their approach to cover the obvious problems, and finally decided to stonewall everyone and everything to defend their product and themselves. The diehards are still out there, chiefs of police who just cannot believe they have fooled themselves, school officials who are going to fold their arms and glower at anyone who dares to criticize their purchase of the Quadro, and officials from the US Customs Service and other agencies who are even now assuring me that they never REALLY believed in it, while making subtle threatening-to-sue noises on the side. The saddest thing about it all is that the reason the scientifically-naive authorities are abandoning the Quadro is because the FBI officially declared it to be a fraud! It's not because there is no rationale for it working, or that their experience with it could be due to an (understandable) error of judgement, but that the Word from On High has officially declared it to be a fake. I have spoken to a dozen persons in that awkward position who say that they don't know why it doesn't work, and it sure seems to work, but they now know that it doesn't work because the FBI says it doesn't. The courts are pursuing the Quadro phenomenon from the wrong angle. Judges who accept the authority of such scientific groups as Sandia Labs in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are (rightly) declaring their conviction that the Quadro is a fake based upon the discovery that there is simply nothing inside the thing, and certainly no "inductor, conductor, or oscillator" as claimed by QR&F. At least, not any that are apparent to we uninitiated persons. And, the FBI has adopted -- for the same reason -- this same stance. But the major factor has been missed: the very large number of satisfied customers who declare confidently that the thing works, because they've experienced the movement of the rod in their own hands. They will ALWAYS fail a double-blind test, but since they have no intention of ever trying such a test, they will never know that fact. They cannot believe that they themselves are moving the rod in response to their suspicions, their expertise, or their wishes. But they are. And I have a half-million dollars that I'll bet on that statement. What the federal court should do, to best serve the public and to decisively defeat the proponents of quackery who will preach endless sermons on the plight of the unfortunate geniuses of Quadro who are undergoing Galilean agonies at the hands of the Dweeb Scientists consortium -- those who gave us atomic bombs, DDT poisoning and probably AIDS! -- would be to conduct a simple, brief, decisive double-blind test of the Quadro toy right in the courtroom. I doubt that the lawyers for Quadro will produce (a la Miracle on 34th Street) the bags of letters to Quadro from satisfied customers in every corner of the nation -- though they'll try that approach -- and science could demonstrate that occasionally it sends warriors out of the Ivory Tower to stick a lance in the Dragon. That Dragon is making lots of smoke and stench, and I, for one, want it put out to pasture. Also, we have the small percentage of the Believers who say that, regardless of whether the Quadro device works as advertised, it serves as a deterrent because it scares the school kids into not bringing drugs and weapons onto school property. If you think kids are that stupid, guys, you should be back in school yourselves. They won't believe this pseudoscientific bullroar for a moment, as you seem to have done. Finally, one Quadro witness ended his testimony with the resounding declaration to the court, "Look, either this thing works, or I'm an idiot!" No comment. James Randi >Requests to be added to or deleted from the randi-hotline mailing list, >must be sent to the service address: > > Internet: randi-hotline-request@ssr.com > >Thanks to Anson Kennedy, back issues of the randi-hotline are now >available on the World Wide Web: > > http://www.mindspring.com/~anson/randi-hotline/ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 11:44:07 -0700 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Lisa Rogers Subject: Sac: Quadro-Tracker I find it very hard to believe that QR&F _really believe_ their own claims. To sell a hunk of plastic is a great scam, that requires no illusions about the nature of science, evidence, etc. They could be just bluffing it out, hoping to make a deal, just trying to avoid jail-time or something like that. You think? Lisa >>> JJ Kane/NHSkeptics 2/25/96, 03:54pm >>> James Randi --- Wizard writes: > NEW, EXCITING, BREAKTHROUGHS IN SCIENCE! > During their hearing in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, the officers of the Quadro Corporation -- who designed, manufactured and sold the wondrous "high tech drug & weapons detector" device that turned out to be (why are we not surprised?) a total fake -- were told that their toy had been carefully examined and that no "inductors, conductors, or oscillators" were to be found. Quadro had advertised such components as the working parts of the "secret technology" invented by these innovative chaps. The Quadro folks then explained to the astounded courtroom that these were not "ordinary" inductors, conductors, or oscillators that they used in the device. No, they said, these were of an advanced sort not yet known to "regular science." It just shows you what we've yet to learn. Break. Though the spectators laughed at the Quadro officers who espoused this sillyness, there is a very strong message in this declaration. I honestly believe that Quattlebaum, Roe, and Fisk (the three major officers of Quadro Corporation) said this because they not only have no basic knowledge of what science is, but also because they believe that real scientists make statements, and use specialized language, without having to think through the process by which they arrived at their conclusions. The Quadro people think that any opinion or statement of theirs is as good as any made by anyone else. And that, friends, is exactly what the antiscience movement would have us follow as a working principle. And it's very, very, wrong. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 20:30:05 +0000 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Robert Maxwell Young Subject: List of forums re: Hitory, etc. of sci. (HPSST) This is a revised version of a list I posted weeks ago. Please send information to update it and freel free to send it to other forums & sites. Bob Y Please feel free to re-post this to other forums and sites and to send me revisions. Bob Y BOB YOUNG'S LIST OF EMAIL FORUMS ON HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY AND SOCIAL STUDIES OF SCIENCE, MEDICINE AND TECHNOLOGY Science as Culture To: listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu Body of message: subscribe science-as-culture yourfirstname yourlastname Related web site with articles for discussion: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/rmy/sac.html **************** Science and Technology Studies To: listproc@kasey.umkc.edu Body of message:subscribe sci-tech-studies YOUR NAME **************** History of Medicine To:mailserv@beach.utmb.edu Body of message: subscribe CADUCEUS-L **************** Comparative Science & Literature To: majordomo@coombs.anu.edu Body of message: subscribe Comparative-Sci-L Youremailaddress **************** History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science To: listserv@Qucdn.queensu.ca Body of messagesubscribe HPSST-L forstname lastname **************** History of Science (mostly UK) To: mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk Body of message: join mersenne your name ************** Philosophy of the Social/Human Sciences To:listserv@nosferatu.cas.usf.edu Body of messagesubscribe COCTA-L Yourname *************** Society for Science and Literature To: LISTSERV@VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU Body of message: subscribe LITSCI-L ************** Technoscience: the newsletter of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S): http://www.cis.vt.edu/technoscience/technohome.html ************** To discover the forums served by the listserve software in a given area of interest, send a message to: LISTSERV@umdd.umd.edu Body of message: lists global Then add the subject, e.g., politics, history, anorexia or whatever. Send a new message for each topic. e.g., lists global sex Be sure to badger them into listing y9ur favourite forums. They can be a bit dozy. Compiled by Robert Maxwell Young robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk __________________________________________ | Robert Maxwell Young: robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk | 26 Freegrove Rd., London N7 9RQ, England | tel. +44 171 607 8306 fax. +44 171 609 4837 | Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies, | Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies, University of Sheffield | Home page and writings: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/ 'One must imagine Sisyphus happy.' - Camus ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 11:39:40 +0000 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Robert Maxwell Young Subject: Useful Commands & other info: please save I am re-posting some useful commands. I would also find it helpful if subscribers would begin the subject line of their postngs with SaC: I ask this because my software (Eudora Pro) does not identify the forum of the posting, and I suppose some others may have this problem as well. I hope people will make use of our web site and comment on the articles which are being placed there for discussion. The rationale for the site is there, in case you did not get the original announcement: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/rmy/sac.html If you have problems accessing the site, let me know. I can email any papers. Bob Y USEFUL COMMANDS >To leave the science-as-culture forum, send the following message to >listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu (leave the subject line blank) > >unsubscribe sci-cult > >It is possible to subscribe to to the forum in index (table of >contents) or in digest (one mailing with all the messages for the >day). To do this send the following message to: >listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu (leave the subject line blank) > >set sci-cult index or set sci-cult digest > >MINI REFCARD > >This section includes a number of commands which are useful to forum >members. Unless otherwise indicated all commands should be sent to >listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu, leaving the subject heading blank. It is >possible to send multiple commands in the same message provided that >there is one command per line. > >TYPE THE COMMAND: IF YOU WANT TO: > >HELP receive commands information >INFO receive a list of files >LIST find out what listserv lists exist >INDEX sci-cult receive a list of files associated > to sci-cult >REVIEW sci-cult find out who is on the forum >REVIEW sci-cult (country find out what countries subscribers come from >GET name-of-file receive a file > >The HELP command is particularly helpful for subscribers who are new >to listserv forums. >There are a lot of documents with useful information on listserver >services. For a list of available documents send the command INDex >DOC. Some particularly useful documents for forum members are LISTSERV >REFCARD and LSVSTART. To receive a copy of the first send the >following message to listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu > >GET LISTSERV REFCARD > >To get a copy of the second send the following command to >listserv@earncc.bitnet > >GET LVSTART PS (Postscript) >GET LCSTART MEMO (plain text) > __________________________________________ | Robert Maxwell Young: robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk | 26 Freegrove Rd., London N7 9RQ, England | tel. +44 171 607 8306 fax. +44 171 609 4837 | Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies, | Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies, University of Sheffield | Home page and writings: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/ 'One must imagine Sisyphus happy.' - Camus ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 10:57:56 -0700 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: GREGORY DALE WILSON Subject: Sac: Quadro-Tracker >>> JJ Kane/NHSkeptics 2/25/96, 03:54pm >>> James Randi --- Wizard writes . . . . >I honestly believe that Quattlebaum, Roe, and Fisk (the >three major officers of Quadro Corporation) said this because they >not only have no basic knowledge of what science is, but also because >they believe that real scientists make statements, and use >specialized language, without having to think through the process by >which they arrived at their conclusions. The Quadro people think >that any opinion or statement of theirs is as good as any made by >anyone else. . . . . Real scientists themselves perpetuate the myth that they make statements and use specialized language without having to think through the process by which they arrived at their conclusions. Latour&Woolgar address scientists's preference of genius stories like, "One day Dr X had an idea," over actual explanations of the long tedious grunt work it took to construct a scientific fact. Once a fact is a fact, it behooves the scientist to erase the tracks in the sand, deny that the fact was ever tentative. Our culture also perpetuates the myth that science is a high level innate skill of looking at the world objectively and interpreting it for those who were not talented enough to be scientists and had to settle for English or Art History. QR&F's discourse is largely consistent with how scientists see themselves and how they are seen by society. So the question is, are QR&F telling the truth, lying, or being pathetically delusional as to their position as scientists? Greg Wilson New Mexico State University ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 12:14:08 -0700 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Lisa Rogers Subject: Sac: Quadro-Tracker -Reply Are QR&F 'scientists'? Do they call themselves that? I think I understand that one of the points of science studies is to deconstruct the conventional line between 'science' and everything else [which I did a long time ago, although not perhaps in quite the same way]. Maybe I'm just wondering how you decide to call them 'scientists' or not. Lisa James Randi --- Wizard writes >I honestly believe that Quattlebaum, Roe, and Fisk (the >three major officers of Quadro Corporation) said this because they >not only have no basic knowledge of what science is ... The Quadro people think >that any opinion or statement of theirs is as good as any made by >anyone else. >>> GREGORY DALE WILSON 2/27/96, 10:57am >>> QR&F's discourse is largely consistent with how scientists see themselves and how they are seen by society. So the question is, are QR&F telling the truth, lying, or being pathetically delusional as to their position as scientists? ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 12:41:07 -0700 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Lisa Rogers Subject: sac: call for papers, culture and technological age Seemed related to list-topic: ****************************************************** CALL FOR PAPERS FROM MICROCHIP TO MASS MEDIA: CULTURE AND THE TECHNOLOGICAL AGE A multidisciplinary conference at DePaul University May 2-4, 1996 Keynote: David Marc, author of "Bonfire of the Humanities" Deadline for submissions: March 15, 1996 Whether technology directly affects our lives is no longer a contested issue. However, how technology enters our world, when it changes how we think and behave, and where it is leading us are among the most hotly debated topics of our time. The conference will address the manifold influences that rapid advances in technology are having on contemporary culture. There will be plenary lectures, discussion panels, workshops, and paper presentations. All papers or abstracts that explore the connections between culture and technology will be considered. Anticipated areas include but are not limited to: *Linked Up: Traversing the Information Highway *Mirrorshades: Technology in the arts, Sci Fi, Film and Television *From Left to Right: Democracy and the Politics of Cyberspace *Technology & the Future of Work: The Economy, Corporations, & Workers *Legitimation Crisis: The Status of Knowledge in the Computer Age *Scientific Revolution to Third Wave: The History of Technology and its Human consequences Papers or abstracts will be considered. Papers should be less than 20 double spaced pages, and abstracts approx. 500 words. Submissions will be reviewed for a special issue of cy.Rev Magazine. Please send submissions to: DePaul University LA&S Graduate Student Council Conference Committee Schmitt Academic Center #477 2320 N Kenmore Ave Chicago, IL 60614-3298 E-mail: Brodie Dollinger dollingr@norcmail.uchicago.edu Phone: Randall Honold or Matt Blakely (312)325-7315 Co-sponsored by: Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility and Chicago Coalition for Information Access ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 20:54:28 +0000 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Robert Maxwell Young Subject: New Web Page for STS From: "Bart Simon" >Greetings, > >I've put together a web page which will be of interest to researchers >in STS and people doing social and cultural studies of science. In >an effort to figure out how the web might be useful in our kind of >research i've tried to build a "filtered" page which offers the sorts >of things STS'ers might like to use regularly. > >The page is still in its early stages, but there are links to >professional society pages (where you'll find conference announcments >and newsletters), links to journal pages (where you'll find tables of >contents and submission guidelines), and links to sites where jobs are >posted. > >I've also included a section of links to sites where you can get >on-line access to news on science and technology. There are links to >Nature, Science and a bunch of others - I've actually found these >sites very useful for keeping up with news and events in contemporary >science without having to figure out what to do with the piles of >back issues of Science - or whatever (saves money too...). > >Anyway, please check the page out, and let me know what you think - >you'll find it at > >http://helix.ucsd.edu/~bssimon/index.html > >cheers, >Bart Simon (bssimon@helix.ucsd.edu) >Science Studies, UCSD > __________________________________________ | Robert Maxwell Young: robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk | 26 Freegrove Rd., London N7 9RQ, England | tel. +44 171 607 8306 fax. +44 171 609 4837 | Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies, | Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies, University of Sheffield | Home page and writings: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/ 'One must imagine Sisyphus happy.' - Camus ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996 07:55:39 +0000 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Robert Maxwell Young Subject: Web site of Sci Opinions Let me announce this (not so new) experimental interactive humanist Science magazine: Sci.Opinions http://humanism.org/opinions Better than telling you what it is, you just go there and have a look. And if you feel like posting your latest article, just go for it! Take care, Lucas Parra ( so far the only editor :-) ---------- Sci.Opinions - http://humanism.org/opinions ---------- Table of Content Politics A Full Employment Strategy, by John Gelles, Thu-Feb-15-03:57:03-UTC-1996 Amateur Opinion and Public Policy, by John Gelles, Thu-Feb--8-23:06:00-UTC-1996 IF I RULED THE WORLD, by XAVIER, Wed-Feb--7-17:31:12-UTC-1996 Real Democracy, by Lucas Parra (editor) Why don't we have a national citizens' convention about science and technology?, by Gary Chapman, Fri-Feb--2-14:57:24-UTC-1996 Could it Happen?, by ALan Henson, Mon-Dec--4-04:59:49-UTC-1995 Put Democracy into R&D, by Richard E. Sclove, Wed-Nov-22-23:19:20-UTC-1995 Electronic Warfare Wages On - And You're The Target, by Bill Frezza, Wed-Nov--1-20:40:24-UTC-1995 My Life As An International Arms Courier, by Matt Blaze, Wed-Sep-27-13:59:16-UTC-1995 US Budget Cuts, by Adolfo Carpio, Thu-Jan-26-20:19:39-UTC-1995 Research About Science SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT, by Environmental Research Foundation, Wed-Jan-31-15:36:00-UTC-1996 WORLD SCIENTISTS' WARNING TO HUMANITY, by Union of Concerned Scientists, Wed-Nov-22-12:33:48-UTC-1995 Modern science and humanism are incompatible unless scientists attempt to develop a new approach., by Greta Van Vinckenroy, Mon-Sep-11-14:31:19-UTC-1995 Sciences and Humanism in Today's World, by Greta Van Vinckenroy, Sat-Feb-11-09:14:00-UTC-1995 Towards a New Renaissance Period in Science , by Barry J. Hardy, Sat-Feb--4-04:11:14-UTC-1995 Economics Sorry We Don't Bake Pie, Would You Like to Bank Instead?, by John Gelles, Mon-Feb-12-16:17:32-UTC-1996 An Economic Plan in Plain English, by John Gelles, Sat-Feb-10-23:15:47-UTC-1996 Small and Microenterprise Finance, by World Bank - Micro Finance Unit - (fwd by Joaquim Moura), Thu-Dec--7-17:42:21-UTC-1995 Education Activism Sketch of an E-Mail based Political Party, by John Gelles, Thu-Feb-15-03:54:39-UTC-1996 A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, by John Perry Barlow, Co-Founder, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mon-Feb-12-16:10:16-UTC-1996 Jobs The "Dumbing" of America - An action plan, by Dr. Gene A. Nelson, Thu-Sep-28-13:45:03-UTC-1995 __________________________________________ | Robert Maxwell Young: robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk | 26 Freegrove Rd., London N7 9RQ, England | tel. +44 171 607 8306 fax. +44 171 609 4837 | Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies, | Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies, University of Sheffield | Home page and writings: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/ 'One must imagine Sisyphus happy.' - Camus ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996 16:47:14 +0000 Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Robert Maxwell Young Subject: SaC: Capitalism, Nature, Socialism Journal CNS Capitalism Nature Socialism ------------------------------- A Journal of Socialist Ecology Edited by James O'Connor University of California, Santa Cruz CNS is the only serious red-green theoretical journal in the world. It is edited by a distinguished group of scholars and scholar activists, half of whom are North American, the other half from a variety of countries. CNS seek to meld the traditional concerns of labor movements with the ecological struggles in particular, and demands of the new social movements in general. To this end, it publishes articles, reviews, interviews, documents and poems that locate themselves at the site between history and nature, or society and the environment. The result is a publication that explores such topics as historical ecology, Marxism and ecology, sustainable development, philosophy of nature, political economy of ecology, socialist eco-feminism, environmentalism and the state, and ecological racism. **Articles include: *Nature, Women, Labor: Living the Deepest Contradiction, Ariel Salleh *Rethinking Recycling: The Politics of the Waste Crisis, Stephen Horton *Struggles Over Local Space: Envirnmental Movement in Taiwan, Jinn-yuh Hsu *The Nature Conservancy, Timothy Luke Sample copies available! Subscriptions (four issues) Individuals: $ 22; outside US: $27 (surface mail) $37 (airmail) Institutions: $65; outside US: $80 (airmail) Guilford Puablications Inc. 72 Spring Street, New York, NY Attn: Journals Dept. Phone: 1-212-431-9800 Fax: 1-212-966-6708 --- Alberto Daniel Teszkiewicz Moderator of list the marxjour@ccc.uba.ar marxjour@dia.edu.ar __________________________________________ | Robert Maxwell Young: robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk | 26 Freegrove Rd., London N7 9RQ, England | tel. +44 171 607 8306 fax. +44 171 609 4837 | Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies, | Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies, University of Sheffield | Home page and writings: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/ 'One must imagine Sisyphus happy.' - Camus ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 29 Feb 1996 00:54:56 EST Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: JJ Kane/NHSkeptics Organization: Armchair Research Subject: clearing up old misconceptions In-Reply-To: Apparently someone has assembled an exhaustive study of societal constructions of "darwinism" as a family of concepts, most unrelated to science and natural selection. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Michel Albrand Subject: A complete reference on Darwin and evolution I came across this news item from AFP agency (Agence France Presse) and thought it may be of some interest to you. >> AFP news item dated January 18th 1996 - REF : FRAQ12S4GA >> 0382FRA/AFP-LH15 >> PARIS, January 18th (AFP) - A great "Dictionary of Darwinism and >> of Evolution"... ... This titanesque result, with no antecedent >> in the matter, has taken ten years work to 150 international >> specialists in the biological sciences and human studies, under >> the direction of Patrick Tort. While striving to restore in its >> entirety the logics of evolution, its original concepts and modern >> versions, this encyclopaedic dictionary initiates a historical >> investigation of all national 'Darwinisms'." Among the Editor's statements, I picked this one because of its unusual straightforwardness: >This historical and critical synthesis of Darwinism and evolutionary >theory has been conducted in order to combat the endless distortions >of Darwin's ideas. Henceforth, the demonstration has been made that: > - Darwin is not the father of modern anti-equalitarian theories, > - Darwin is the founder neither of negative eugenics nor of > dogmas of elimination, > - Darwin is not the justifier of Victorian Imperialism, > - Darwin is not responsible for "Social Darwinism". More information can be obtained on the Web, in six languages, at: http://www.planete.net/~ptort/darwin/evolengl.html (English) http://www.planete.net/~ptort/darwin/index.html (French) Michel Albrand ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 29 Feb 1996 16:14:39 U Reply-To: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture Sender: Sci-Cult Science-as-Culture From: Phil Bereano Subject: Op Ed A Op Ed of mine ran in the Seattle Times on Sunday Feb. 25, 1996. Since this list cannot receive messages of more than 300 lines, if you would like to receive a copy of it, please e-mail Dinh Lam at dinh.lam@uwtc.washington.edu and she'll send it to you directly. Phil Bereano Department of Technical Communication University of Washington 14 Loew Hall Box 352195 Seattle, WA 98195-2195 email: phil@uwtc.washington.edu ph: (206) 543-9037 fx: (206) 543-8858