Author Archives: rg

The vindication of a heretic

Article by Brendan O’Neill.

Excerpts:

Jay Bhattacharya is right: ‘scientism’ is a menace to truth and liberty.

But Bhattacharya’s mission is less one of personal vengeance than of scientific restoration. He told his hearing that he wants to bring back ‘the very essence of science’ to the NIH. And what might that be? ‘Dissent’, he said.

[. . .]

That we scientists found ourselves in the position of telling the masses they ‘shouldn’t be saying goodbye to [their] grandfather as he’s dying in a hospital’ was awful, he said. What we should have done is say ‘Here’s what the risks are’, and then let people decide whether to take them.

[. . .]

That we scientists found ourselves in the position of telling the masses they ‘shouldn’t be saying goodbye to [their] grandfather as he’s dying in a hospital’ was awful, he said. What we should have done is say ‘Here’s what the risks are’, and then let people decide whether to take them.

Jeffrey Sachs: Negotiating a Lasting Peace in Ukraine

Article here.

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he directed The Earth Institute from 2002 until 2016. He is also President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development. He has been advisor to three United Nations Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Sachs is the author, most recently, of “A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism” (2020). Other books include: “Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, and Sustainable” (2017) and “The Age of Sustainable Development,” (2015) with Ban Ki-moon.

Chihuahuas, Not Dobermans

Article by Patrick Lawrence.

Excerpt:

This new round of foolishness among the Europeans is not funny. This is not a Terry Southern script. Under the circumstances — a likely settlement somewhere in the offing — it is a criminally careless of human lives and the well-being of 450 million European citizens. 

I see only one explanation for this. It is the diabolic outcome of the liberal authoritarianism I go on about in this space. The neoliberal order must must must prevail no matter what the cost, no matter how obviously irrational this repudiation of reason proves.