I'm planning one or more additional Hillary posts today...as, I believe, is Sheril...but first, some updates. As I mentioned yesterday, my Seed cover story, entitled "Dr. President"--or, on the cover, "Can Science Save the American Dream?"--is now up. This is an unapologetically idealistic manifesto about what kind of leadership we should have, what kind of leadership we deserve to have, in this country. As I put it:
"Indeed, a new president should embrace the language and values of science not out of idealism, but rather as the highest form of pragmatism. Policies work best when the best information flows unimpeded into the decision-making process, which makes scientific thinking, in its broadest sense, a formula for success. George W. Bush's presidency, his credibility, and his popularity have declined as his ill-informed policies have foundered. A more "reality-based" president should track a truer course and deliver fewer disappointments (and fewer surprises). With just a year to go until the next election, the candidates who wish to become that president must start thinking now about what it takes to be a scientifically aware and informed occupant of the Oval Office in America today."
Hillary seems already to be thinking along these lines, which is what makes this piece so well timed. Anyways, you can read the full Seed cover story here. Meanwhile, I also want to link some of the blogfodder that has resulted from my recent trip to Seattle, where Nisbet-Mooney gave another of our Speaking Science 2.0 presentations. We were hosted by a great and extremely well organized graduate student organization at the University of Washington: FOSEP, or, the Forum on Science, Ethics, and Policy. Nisbet has more, and so does frequent intersection commenter Mark Powell, who I finally met. The campus daily also covered the talk--see here. In short, we had a wonderful, intensive trip to Seattle which prompted many discussions. My sense is that especially among many graduate and Ph.D. students in science--some of whom may go on to pure research careers, but others of whom are considering work in many other areas, including policy--the "framing science" arguments continue to resonate....
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