>Doctrine, dogma, prejudice, racism, sexism, homophobia, conceit,
>egotism, arrogance, power, and absolutist commitments--all of these
>and more interpenetrate everything we do, say, think and feel and
>certainly the sciences are not exempt. Certainly the sciences will
>never overcome any of these, but in fact reproduce them just as any
>other field does through the people, social institutions and cultural
>matrix of which they are a part.
Is this news? did anyone ever think that scientists were recruited from some other race than the human one? Who cares about scientists prejudices, as long as their findings are reproducible and testable? And if their prejudices spur them on to new ideas, like Darwin's Malthusianism, or Kepler's geometric fantasies, all the better for their prejudices. The fact that rocket science was developed in part by Werner Von Braun in an attempt to blow up my grandparents does not mean that every space probe will come veer off towards London. Nor does the development of nylon to replace silk parachutes to invade Germany mean that it is forever more a patriotic material.
-- Jim heartfield