[platinumrad]

I am genuinely unable to understand because even if the United States is descending into fascism or whatever, research is the last thing that an effective state wants to disrupt and scientists are one of the last groups that an effective state wants to alienate.

I'm not just referring to restrictions on collaborations with foreign researchers, although I frankly do not see how that meaningfully reduces the ability of opponents to benefit from US research unless we kill open publishing as well. I'm talking about the last year and a half of destroying the ability of every basic researcher I know to work in a stable and predictable environment.

[runako]

1. Much of US policy toward science is backlash to Covid vaccinations. Being anti-Science is a way of preventing Science from inflicting itself on the populace again in the future.

2. Science trends toward meritocracy, which is bad if your goal is to promote a particular social hierarchy.

[Hikikomori]

It's been there so much longer, even Carl Sagan talked about it, and its inherently tied to religion.

[groundzeros2015]

We just did a 30 year run of “religious people are dumb and holding bus back” and it didn’t start a science boom and just made people more unhappy and disaffected.

And 2020 further revealed that science is not immune from politics or its own religious ideals.

[vladms]

Do you imply that last 30 years lacked significant science progress? Even if I ignore the tech ones (simpler to associate with the US), there were quite some impressive progress I heard of in other fields (in which US was significantly involved).

[groundzeros2015]

No, but most certainly less than 1940-1970 which was a much more religious time.

[Hikikomori]

When did this ever happen?

[groundzeros2015]

After your formative years when you were done adopting new ideas.

[Hikikomori]

About as coherent as you would except.

[bad_haircut72]

They are concerned with their first objective which is consolidate power. Running an "effective state" is not their goal at this point in time. Infact it helps them as thingn get worse, because every bad thing that happens they spin into being their oppositions fault, which helps with objective no 1