• Welcome to the Internet Infidels Discussion Board.

Presidential science debate anyone?

 
 
 
J

Jolly_Penguin

Banned
Banned
Joined
Aug 22, 2003
Messages
10,366
Location
South Pole
Basic Beliefs
Skeptic
We tried and failed to make this happen here in Canada before our recent federal debate. I have heard the idea mentioned in the run up to past USA presidential debates.

Any movement for this in the USA this time around? Wouldn't it be great to have presidential candidates come out as pro-science? Where do Sanders and Clinton stand on science funding?
 
Did some googling and found an organization in the US called sciencedebate and it seems they are indeed pushing for this.

I think it may actually happen, especially if Carson remains a big player, since he is a neurosurgeon and Clinton has been pushing climate change as a key issue in her campaign.

Am I just being naive or could this actually happen? Neil Degrasse Tyson should be the moderator :-)
 
Jolly_Penguin said:
Am I just being naive or could this actually happen? Neil Degrasse Tyson should be the moderator :-)
Click to expand...
I don't think we'll need a popular scientist to moderate. Any experienced moderator will be fine.

We'll need Tyson to translate the question into words the candidates can understand. Tyson or Bill Nye.
And then someone else to translate the candidate's answers into real world science terms.
I recommend Brian from Mr. Deity for that one. Someone willing to say, "No, you can't just ignore pollution and hope it goes away, which is what he's proposing, and that's about as smart as an umbrella made of water-activated explosives."
 
Not enough to really have a "debate" on alone. But certainly could be asked during a real debate. Sadly, we've already seen the debates here especially regarding climate change and we could likely see the "Climate change isn't real" -> "There are some signs of climate change but we don't know the causes" -> "We may be the cause but the cost is too high, besides farming in Alaska!" -> "We need to address the issues that climate change present and provide a sound response, not just some feel good response" -> "HOCKEY STICK!!!!"

And 6 days for the creation of the universe? Are we really going to have to go down there? Granted, Carson is as likely to get the Republican nomination as I am.
 
I don't think the nonsense of the climate change deniers or the evolution deniers is worthy of being debated. All they do is deny, deny, deny.
 
Forget climate change and evolution then. How about space exploration, energy development, cancer research, etc. So much to cover on science.
 
Politicians aren't scientists. They're not qualified to debate about science. Ben Carson would be qualified to debate about the science in his field of expertise, but neuroscience, as far as I know, isn't a plank of any party in the U.S. And somehow that guy's still a fucking idiot anyway.
 
Any kind of debate could not really be about scientific topics, but attitudes towards science and the role of science in policy/law making.
 
I would love to see Degrasse Tyson put the question of science funding to them. He speaks on it so well and I would love to see them respond to what he has to say.
 
Bacillus anthracis said:
Politicians aren't scientists. They're not qualified to debate about science. Ben Carson would be qualified to debate about the science in his field of expertise, but neuroscience, as far as I know, isn't a plank of any party in the U.S. And somehow that guy's still a fucking idiot anyway.
Click to expand...

Second this. Their job is to listen to the experts, not be experts.
 
Well I can tell you how such a debate would go on the Republican side of things.

Every question would get 10 different variations on "well I'm not a scientist, but they're clearly all wrong."

Unless you invite Miss Lindsay Graham.
 
Jolly_Penguin said:
We tried and failed to make this happen here in Canada before our recent federal debate. I have heard the idea mentioned in the run up to past USA presidential debates. Any movement for this in the USA this time around? Wouldn't it be great to have presidential candidates come out as pro-science? Where do Sanders and Clinton stand on science funding?
Click to expand...
Ben Carson has stated firmly his opinion that anybody who believes in evolution cannot be a moral person. All you need to know about Ben Carson and science.
 
Keith&Co. said:
Bacillus anthracis said:
Politicians aren't scientists. They're not qualified to debate about science.
Click to expand...
Then they shouldn't be allowed to legislate in science matters, either.
Click to expand...

They're legislators, lawmakers. Their task is to sift through information from all walks of life and professions and then decide what will work best. The only alternative is to let scientists, who have no legal education, attempt to make laws. Then we would end up with something like biologists filibustering against the geologists for who the fuck knows what. And given that, we'd have to let business people create laws regarding business. Now that would be a truly apocalyptic system.

It's a highly imperfect system and frankly I think a benevolent dictatorship for about 15 years is the only thing that could fix it. But that's not going to happen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom