From a New York Times book review that provides a useful way to think about the Great Awokening’s “de-compartmentalization” of science from the Woke faith (“All races and genders are created equal, but some are more equal than others”) that is threatening scientists and thus science.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
Modern Science Didn’t Appear Until the 17th Century. What Took So Long? By Jennifer Szalai Oct. 7, 2020
… “The Knowledge Machine,” a provocative and fascinating book by the philosopher Michael Strevens that mostly enthralled me, even as a couple of parts set my teeth on edge.
… But human civilization has existed for millenniums, and modern science — as distinct from ancient and medieval science, or so-called natural philosophy — has only been around for a few hundred years. What took so long?
… According to “The Knowledge Machine,” it took a cataclysm to disrupt the longstanding way of looking at the world in terms of an integrated whole. The Thirty Years’ War in Europe — which started over religion and ended, after killing millions, with a system of nation-states — made compartmentalization look good. Religious identity would be private; political identity would be public. Not that this partition was complete in the 17th century, but Strevens says it opened up the previously unfathomable possibility of sequestering science. The timing also happened to coincide with the life of Isaac Newton, who became known for his groundbreaking work in mathematics and physics. Even though Newton was an ardent alchemist with a side interest in biblical prophecy, he supported his scientific findings with empirical inquiry; he was, Strevens argues, “a natural intellectual compartmentalizer” who arrived at a fortuitous time.
This is a pretty standard explanation: after the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648, Europeans were sick of wars of religion, so they tried to be more tolerant of each other’s views on faith and instead look for common ground, such as science, in which they could productively work together.
But now we have a rising new religion, Wokeness, that tolerates no dissent. How dare you compartmentalize your view of scientists?
If you admire, say, Francis Galton for inventing the silent dog whistle, the correlation coefficient, the weather map, and the first effective way to use fingerprints in criminal investigations, that means you favor eugenics as well. In fact, we aren’t so sure about dog whistles, correlations, and criminal investigations either.
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