The War on Science ― Who Is Waging It, Why It's Dangerous, and What We Can Do About It

The politicization of science is nothing new, of course. Ever since Galileo’s clash with the Roman Catholic Church, advances in scientific knowledge have had a strained relationship with powerful interests.

Today, we are in the midst of an unprecedented expansion of scientific progress. Science governs every aspect of our lives, from transport to technology, health care to national defense.

These radical opportunities are accompanied by serious challenges, introduced and compounded by science and technology. Counter-intuitively, many western democracies actively disregard the ways in which science can readdress these imbalances. Crucial strategies for alleviating global warming, arguably the planet’s greatest threat, are resisted by powerful interests fearing for their bottom line. Faith-based objections to the teaching of evolution and human biology erupt from members of the public. Nor are scientists entirely blameless. Too frequently they fail to engage in the kind of public dialogue that would benefit from their reasonable perspective.

Shawn Lawrence Otto’s provocative book reopens this necessary public conversation on science and the common good. Whenever the people are well-informed,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1789, they can be trusted with their own government.” With the intention of enhancing public dialogue by investigating the priorities of scienceand the governments that ignore its implications to their perilAmerica’s Science Problem is an impassioned appeal to reason, before it’s too late.

Shawn Lawrence Otto was the co-founder and CEO of Science Debate 2008, the largest political initiative in the history of science. He is also an award-winning screenwriter best known for writing and co-producing the Academy Award-nominatedHouse of Sand and Fog. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Science,Salon, and Scientific American. He lives in Minnesota.