politics

The latest article of Lawrence M. Krauss in the New Yorker (link) is calling for a statement about the connection between science and politics. I strongly recommend reading the linked piece before going on in this post. I also would like to write that this subject is very complex and it may lead to prolonged debate.

All right, let’s go. The basic is about how much political control should be applied to scientific research, both about funding and public debate about scientific matters. In a perfect world, national governments and international agencies should prioritize a number of matters of public interest that have scientific implications and find ways to fund as much research projects they can, hoping to harvest in the near future ideas and discoveries useful to solve problems and/or to upgrade the existing industries. That may sound good as a theory. But who will be in charge to establish what to research and what not?

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There will be general election in my country, we will vote on sunday, February 24th and monday, February 25th. Before that we’re knee deep in the worst political campaign ever since 1948.

The main factor is not the economy, nor the italian role in Europe. No, it’s not about the rise of the unenployed number. No, everything is about promises. Dreams selled to the audience, cheaper than candies. Old timers like Silvio Berlusconi and newcomers like Beppe Grillo got the center of the political ring and every single day they rise the stakes about what will happen the magical first day after the elections.

Believe me, it’s like to see an old movie. A really bad one. Since 1993 political campaigns here in Italy are like that. Now, in the aftermath of the worst economic crisis ever, almost everybody can see that there’s nothing real in these “dreams”. While the fat cats are on TV we’re dealing with a world that changes at high speed.