>>> <alexlocascio at juno.com> 03/22/99 09:51AM >>>
Natural scientists need commitment to political praxis as
>much as all other intellectuals.
Yeah, but nobody attacks scientists for writing in language that "ordinary people" can't understand. Only literary/cultural critics are single out for such abuse.
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CB: Natural scientists must take more social responsibility for their work (see below). This includes popularizing complex scientific concepts so that the "enterprise" of science can be democratized and controlled by more people, not an elite. We need science of , by and for the People.
A movie review of _Fantasia_, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice_"
In this vein of politics and literature, science and the arts, culture, I wonder whether Albert Einstein, the iconical genius of modern academe, hasn't turned out to be a sort of sorcerer's apprentice. At this point, the most significant impact on human society of his work has been the development of nuclear weapons. Science for science sake in that case threatens our species survival. Einstein was a social democrat, yet just a little too much detachment of physics from practical-critical activity has brought a force into the world that physicists have lost control of and can't get back into their test labs. Even in this seeming most abstract field, the Marxist watchword of unity of theory and practice unobserved places us in danger. Yes, Einstein is turning out to be Mickey Mouse , only it is not a dream nightmare.
Charles Brown