"Instead, one will simply be accused of being a pandemic denier, wanting to kill grandma, being anti-science, or of placing oneself on the ‘wrong side of history.’”
Of course, that sort of overzealous authoritarian exclusion of troubling questions is not unique to scientism; it is clearly on display in the current anti-science cult. Those who ask for empirical evidence of authoritative assertions are fired from their jobs, excluded from press pools, sued into submission and labeled as members of the lunatic left suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. People of all stripes tend to get scared and angry when their core beliefs are challenged. The documentary "Flight from Death", which focuses on relatively modern explorations of terror management theory and Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death, is an engaging exploration of this phenomenon.
My perspective on Epstein (who I strongly doubt died in prison) is that he's just one symptom of the lethal infiltration of money into the cultural sphere of life. Art, science, religion, education, etc - all have been ruined. It doesn't seem to have occurred to many people that neither politics nor culture can long survive once money dictates the priorities. It was Epstein's job to further the corruption and steer science in the direction of transhumanism and AI. It's said that he would host dinners for people in key positions in NGOs and University research that were basically ass-kissing contests for access to funding. He'd amuse himself by interrupting discussions on science topics by saying something like, "What's this got to do with pussy?" He'd get polite laughter, no doubt.
"Instead, one will simply be accused of being a pandemic denier, wanting to kill grandma, being anti-science, or of placing oneself on the ‘wrong side of history.’”
Of course, that sort of overzealous authoritarian exclusion of troubling questions is not unique to scientism; it is clearly on display in the current anti-science cult. Those who ask for empirical evidence of authoritative assertions are fired from their jobs, excluded from press pools, sued into submission and labeled as members of the lunatic left suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. People of all stripes tend to get scared and angry when their core beliefs are challenged. The documentary "Flight from Death", which focuses on relatively modern explorations of terror management theory and Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death, is an engaging exploration of this phenomenon.
Good piece, thanks for highlighting.
My perspective on Epstein (who I strongly doubt died in prison) is that he's just one symptom of the lethal infiltration of money into the cultural sphere of life. Art, science, religion, education, etc - all have been ruined. It doesn't seem to have occurred to many people that neither politics nor culture can long survive once money dictates the priorities. It was Epstein's job to further the corruption and steer science in the direction of transhumanism and AI. It's said that he would host dinners for people in key positions in NGOs and University research that were basically ass-kissing contests for access to funding. He'd amuse himself by interrupting discussions on science topics by saying something like, "What's this got to do with pussy?" He'd get polite laughter, no doubt.