And... furthermore...

There is much good writing and thinking coming out of Japan these days. I'd like to quote Dr. Satoru Ikeuchi, a Japanese astrophysicist:

"Humans have become increasingly arrogant, believing they have conquered nature. Scientists and engineers have forgotten their larger responsibilities to society. Our excessive consumption of energy has somehow become part of our very character; it is something we no longer think twice about. We have fallen into the trap of being stupified by civilization".

'stupified by civilization'. That's a translation, of course, but I suspect it's very close to what he was intending to say. For a long time, I've felt that the arrogance of the scientific community was a very dangerous thing. It is next to impossible to criticize a scientist without some pretty nasty feedback... they seem to be threatened when we (the peasants) dare to complain about any scientific position. And this, I believe, is why Al Gore has failed with his climate initiative... the scientific community has no way to defend itself against critics except to say "hey, get outta my face. We're tellin' ya what is...". And so often time allows for changes in the 'scientic consensus', further casting doubt on the entire field. A damn shame.
Interesting proof of these doubts: We've heard from how many experts over the past week that there 'is no chance there will be negative health consequences for Americans from the Japanese nuclear situation'? The same theme... don't worry, be happy... as the plume spreads globally. Try this: go down to your local pharmacy and try to buy a batch of the stuff that is supposed to help us when we're exposed to the nasty (and invisible) products of the nuclear meltdowns. I called our local drugstore. They laughed at me. I asked where I might get some. "Try the web... but you're gonna pay a pile". So for any scientists out there: You folks need to put less energy into designing chemicals and more energy into finding ways to get the 7,000,000,000 non-scientists on Earth to believe in you and your work. Your lack of credibility is hurting all of us.

On an up note: Take a look at the NYTimes Travel section, Sunday, 3/20. The title is 'Asia Up Close 2011'. It's worth a look, even if you have no plans to be in Luang Prabang next fall.

Namaste.
Kirk