[Wittrs] Hawking (in CHORA) and the Science/Mathematics Establishment
- From: Osher Doctorow <mdoctorow@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: CHORA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 28 May 2011 01:55:14 -0400
My favorite writer John Le Carre (at least, during his "Smiley" period of
writing - his latest books are not comparable to those) or John David Cornwell
as he is really named, is implicitly the most Anti-Bureaucracy philosopher in
fiction of the last 60 years.
There is a similarity between Le Carre's criticism of Political Bureaucracies
and my criticism of the Science-Engineering/Mathematics Establishment
Bureaucracy. The recent attacks on Philosophy by Hawking are only a symptom of
what appears to be a general devaluation of outsiders by Bureaucrats. It is
also common in the Health field (Medicine, Nursing, Medical Social Work, etc.)
and even the Military field and Legal(Law) field.
What are the Motivations of Bureaucrats in all of the above fields? Here are
my candidates for their Motivations:
1. "My Career Only" orientation.
2. "Me Only" orientation.
3. "My family or relatives only" orientation.
4. "My power only" orientation.
5. "My pleasure only" orientation.
I summarise 1-5 above as "Power-Crazy Hedonism" more or less.
There are certain TECHNICAL aids/supports which promote 1-5 above:
6. Use of a language that most people in the nation in question have difficulty
learning - such as legalese, groupthink or groupspeak, un-summarised or
untranslated quantitative language (into English for example, even
approximately or "roughly")
7. The tendency of some Philosophers of Science to imitate physical scientists
or accept their theoretical claims without examining contradictions, anomalies,
paradoxes, lack of clarity, even lack of overt definitions.
8. The tendency of non-scientists or non-specialists in the above fields to
WORSHIP scientists, lawyers, medical doctors, politicians, and so on.
I do not have time at present to go deeper into each of the above factors or
provide more examples, but hopefully I will be able to consider that later.
Best Regards,
Osher Doctorow
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