11 July 2012

Death of Science

Tuesday saw a demonstration on Parliament Hill of those prepared to stand up and be counted over cuts to science funding imposed by the Canadian government. Much as with the earlier demonstration by the heritage community it involved a parade, a coffin and speeches. This one had about five times more people, many taking time out from attending a large scientific conference at the Congress Centre.
While the concern was science, especially environmental science, rather than heritage there were social scientists in the crowd. One sign highlighted the long-form census.
The emphasis on evidence struck a chord with me. Some of the collection of slides below, notably one very near the end, should appeal to professional genealogists. Google < death of science twitter gallery > if the embedding doesn't work.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

thanks very much for your comments regarding science, comments appropriate to a genealogy site. One of the things a novice family historian like me has to learn is to question my findings..."does this new entry fit with existing evidence, am I being objective in accepting or rejecting new entries?" These are questions compatible with the ideals of science as objective and evidence based.
I cannot in my long lifetime recall a federal government in Canada in which the basics of science seem so poorly understood. Perhaps some good will result if every citizen asks about the actual meaning of "science" .