How was the idea of ​​“human races” constructed and then deconstructed? Why is this outdated concept still used?, BY JULIE LACAZE Claude. Olivier Doron, historian and philosopher of science, returns for National Geographic to the historical origins and the current symbolic significance of this troubling word. Interview on: https://www.nationalgeographic.fr/sciences/le-racisme-scientifique-histoire-dun-contresens

To think of the human species in the plural is a dangerous idea, which tends to divide. However, the idea is making a strong comeback in the language of academics, and even, paradoxically, among anti-racist activists, who take up the American meaning of “race” (in the sense of “skin color”).....

Photo: Skulls from the collection of Samuel Morton, one of the American fathers of 'scientific racism'...The skulls from the collection of Samuel Morton, one of the American fathers of 'scientific racism', illustrate his classification of humanity into five races (fruits, according to him, of five divine decisions), today outdated. Left to right: Black American woman and white man, Native Mexican man, Chinese woman and Malaysian man, PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT CLARK/ UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA MUSEUM OF ARCHEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Totalitarianism - Political Science - Political Thought (politicalscienceview.com)

Yes, definitely, it is still a chronic problem plaguing science, maths, phil, education, and society, globally. Thomas Kuhn's work barely scratched the surface of our worst problem. Also, though tyrants aggravate the problem, about 99% of us actual foster and maintain it (with ego's subliminal, multi-generational corruption and pandemic authoritarian personality disorder). For the long answer, see my paper on "Trump, Hitler, Freud, and Monstrosity" and the appendices in "Awareness, Epistemics, and Paradigm Repair" (the preprint posted here @ RG.net). Thanks for caring etc. ~ M

Dear Jamel,

The question posed treats science and history on equal footing, though its not true.

History has been written, interpreted differently according to vested inetersts but science has a uniform attire, it has universal application. So scientific laws rule or principles are universal in application but they don't have anything to do with the political term 'Totalitarianism', meaning total control over individual life by state.

It has been also described as a centralized control by an autocratic authority or as a political concept that the citizen should be totally subject to an absolute state authority.

I doubt that scientific history of human races, which is purely fact and research based endeavour have the scope of cultural pollution, misrepresentation or racial dominance narratives. This could be easily thwarted by the counter arguments.

Harish K Thakur Thank you for your reply and for this relevent remark. Both Science and History were manipulated and instrumentalized by various totalitarian and/or religious powers. It is from this point of view that they are considered; without pretending to put them on the same footing of equality; they are not for the reasons you rightly mentioned.

Dear Harish K Thakur "I doubt that scientific history of human races, which is purely fact and research based endeavour have the scope of cultural pollution, misrepresentation or racial dominance narratives. This could be easily thwarted by the counter arguments". This is true and fortunately, positive science is already fighting these regrettable science deviations. See for example these researchers tackling the non-fonded idea of "scientific racism":

Jessica P. Cerdeña (2021) Race-Conscious Bioethics: The Call to Reject Contemporary Scientific Racism, The American Journal of Bioethics, 21:2, 48-53

Rajan-Rankin, S. (2021). Beyond scientific racism: Monstrous ontologies and hostile environments. Monstrous ontologies: Politics, ethics, materiality, 111-128.

This article examines how political cartoons reflected and mobilized resistance to growing authoritarianism and the personalization of power in contemporary Serbia. The focus is on the work of Dušan Petričić, the most influential political cartoonist in Serbia...

Petričić’s cartoons, both as a way to understand the relationship between his aesthetics and his political statements, and in order to critically assess some of the ways in which democratization conflicts may be expressed visually. Their analysis also draws on evidence from an in-depth interview with the author. In combining a systematic analysis of key visual patterns across a sample of cartoons with a comprehensive evaluation of how both visual and linguistic features work together to promote anti-authoritarian ideals and resistance, the article offers a framework to understand the political import of aesthetics in Serbia’s democratization process...

Article Visual metaphor and authoritarianism in Serbian political cartoons

Thank you Dear Ljubomir Jacić for this interesting research which shows a concrete example on how intellectuals can positively contribute to the political emancipation of societies even when things are somewhat difficult.

Science and religion formed together the basis of the knowledge of almost all ancient societies. Their interferences were at the origin of impostures on which we will return. I would like first to quote these thoughts by Dyson Freeman on this issue: "Science and religion are two windows that people look through, trying to understand the big universe outside, trying to understand why we are here. The two windows give different views, but they look out at the same universe. Both views are one-sided, neither is complete. Both leave out essential features of the real world. And both are worthy of respect. Trouble arises when either science or religion claims universal jurisdiction. , when either religious or scientific dogma claims to be infallible. Religious creationists and scientific materialists are equally dogmatic and insensitive. By their arrogance, they bring both science and religion into disrepute. The media exaggerate their numbers and importance. The media rarely mention the fact that the great majority of religious people belong to moderate denominations that treat science with respect, or the fact that the great majority of scientists trea t religion with respect so long as religion does not claim jurisdiction over scientific questions"

Freeman Dyson (March 15, 2000). Progress In Religion (Speech). Templeton Prize Reading.

Yes, they serve.

We all need to fight against bias and our refusal to look at facts that don't fit our agendas. Scientific history is replete with them. When I was a medical student, we all knew that bacteria couldn't live in the stomach and cause ulcers. The first person to discuss the big bang theory was a Jesuit. Sceptics pooh poohed it because they claimed he was trying to justify Genesis.

Thank you dear Cynthia Jones-Nosacek for these edifying examples. Do you have references that would allow us to know more? And grateful for your valuable contribution

Jamel Chahed The Jesuit astronomer who conceived of the Big Bang | Astronomy.com CNN - Bacteria, not stress, causes ulcers, research shows - August 30, 1996

Galileo and the Church in [1] ..In late 1632, in the aftermath of the publication of the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Galileo was ordered to appear in Rome to be examined by the Congregation of the Holy Office; i.e., the Inquisition...."He was declared guilty of “vehement suspicion of heresy,” and made to recite and sign a formal abjuration: I have been judged vehemently suspect of heresy, that is, of having held and believed that the sun in the center of the universe and immoveable, and that the Earth is not at the center of same, and that it does move. Wishing however, to remove from the minds of your Eminences and all faithful Christians this vehement suspicion reasonably conceived against me, I abjure with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, I curse and detest the said errors and heresies, and generally all and every error, heresy, and sect contrary to the Holy Catholic Church. (Quoted in Shea and Artigas 2003, 194)"

Tradition, but not historical fact, holds that, after abjuring, Galileo mumbled, “Eppur si muove (and yet it moves).” He was sentenced to “formal imprisonment at the pleasure of the Inquisition,” but this was commuted to house arrest, first in the residence of the Archbishop of Siena, and then, from December 1633, at his villa in Arcetri. When he later finished his last book, the Two New Sciences (which does not mention Copernicanism at all), it had to be printed in Holland, and Galileo professed amazement at how it could have been published...

[1] Machamer, P., & Miller, D. M. (2005). Galileo Galilei, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available on:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/galileo/?utm_campaign=TWA%20Newsletter%20for%20February%2015%2C%202016&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&utm_content=The%20Writer%27s%20Almanac%20for%20February%2015%2C%202016&elqTrackId=47596999dfe244aca85f21f4c10db55e

Image Source: Galileo Affair Galileo, Highbrow:

https://gohighbrow.com/galileo-affair/

Why Serbia’s President Is a Threat to Europe

Aleksandar Vucic’s authoritarian government is aiding Russian and Chinese propaganda and allowing genocide denialists to celebrate war criminals...

Our president have support of certain church officials, some scientists and so many historians. We do live in stabilocracy!

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/01/05/serbia-vucic-mladic-mural-lithium-china-russia-threat-europe/

Dear Jamel

Science and religion are two opposites

there has been a consistent dual war between the two and the two have survived, in the shape of orthodoxy and rationalism.

For the sake greater knowledge and precision of it religion has to be discarded or just like racists the orthodoxies would mar the way of enlightenment.

Politically seen, the two are bound to fall a prey to the power players, the strategician, political engineers and authoritarians as a tool to be used according to appropriacy of the situation. While racialism work at certain spaces like west, US and Europe, religion works as powerful tool in developing world especially in west Asia and south Asia, Africa.

Thank you Dear Ljubomir Jacić for this interesting example, totally in the vein of the topic, and for the insight into this region of Europe. Reading the article you shared, I learned, not without some disbelief that, "...the most popular world leader, after Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, is Hungary's autocratic Prime Minister Viktor Orban; in other words, when Serbs look to Europe they look to Budapest, not Berlin"...

Dear Harish K Thakur "Science and religion are two opposites" I understand the point you mentioned and explained: Thank you for the contribution. Science and Religion formed together the basis of the knowledge of almost all ancient societies. Their interference was at the origin of many scientific impostures. To this regard, I would like to quote these thoughts by Dyson Freeman: "Science and religion are two windows that people look through, trying to understand the big universe outside, trying to understand why we are here. The two windows give different views, but they look out at the same universe. Both views are one-sided, neither is complete. Both leave out essential features of the real world. And both are worthy of respect. Trouble arises when either science or religion claims universal jurisdiction. , when either religious or scientific dogma claims to be infallible. Religious creationists and scientific materialists are equally dogmatic and insensitive. By their arrogance, they bring both science and religion into disrepute. The media exaggerate their numbers and importance. The media rarely mention the fact that the great majority of religious people belong to moderate denominations that treat science with respect, or the fact that the great majority of scientists trea t religion with respect so long as religion does not claim jurisdiction over scientific questions"

Freeman Dyson (March 15, 2000). Progress In Religion (Speech). Templeton Prize Reading.

Ukraine, in fact, for a long time and consistently fell into the Middle Ages and the archaic. Starting with the Maidan, where ritual was the basis of everything. How to make life better? It is necessary to jump and chant "Who does not jump, that Muscovite."

How to change life? It is necessary to demolish the bad idols / gods and call on the good ones. That is, we demolish the monument to Lenin, Stalin, Pushkin, Chekhov, Ekaterina, we put up a monument to Shukhevych, Bandera .... In order for the help of evil demons to be stronger, more streets must be named after them (however, these elements of the medieval cult were also characteristic of the Bolsheviks).

"Ukraine is above the mustache", that is, above God. That is, there is no morality. "Glory to Ukraine" is a mocking copy of the greeting "Glory to Jesus Christ - Glory Forever!". "Our father Bandera, mother Ukraine." The very text of this song is a direct reference to pagan cults - the ancient gods and demons married strange creatures and monsters were born as a result.

In this case, the strange creature is Ukraine. The demonic essence, which was perfectly portrayed by the Ukrainian creators themselves in the video, where an infernal woman cuts the head of a Russian soldier with a sickle. These are all transformations of the ancient pagan cults of the goddess of Death. Mary/Morana, goddess of Kali. That is, blood cults and human sacrifices. Hence these wild for us performances in bloody shorts.

Actually, the current Ukraine began in 2014 with a mass sacrifice. "Heavenly Hundred". Who killed them? Who was shooting? This is unknown. But blood gave birth to blood and a new version of the cult.

Those who do not worship the great Ukraine are not with us, they must be killed. Odessa, Lugansk, Slavyansk, Donetsk. Blood Offerings to the Demons of Ukronazism. Why is there no reflection on the killings of civilians by Ukrainian artillery? Even for ordinary citizens. But because it is perceived as part of a cult. Yes, not consciously, somewhere in the depths of the subconscious. But it seems like a necessary part of appeasing the blood gods and Mother Ukraine, a sacrifice that will bring prosperity to the cult's followers.

That is, extremely ancient archetypes work in the Ukrainian mass consciousness. Where do the jokes about the murdered children come from - the "colorado larva"? About "barbecue in Odessa"? This is an ancient malice - to destroy the enemy with his kind, to the root. Hence the "Volyn massacre". Why were women and children killed in the first place (I don’t know whether consciously or instinctively)? Parent and successors of the family. And it is unlikely that when the Ukrainians seriously tried to figure out why their "heroes" were so fierce.

two years ago, buses with people evacuated from covid China were thrown stones in Ukraine? Remember how doctors sang a hymn for joy that they would not have to treat the sick? Remember the prayer service when people asked to be protected from evacuees from China? Don't remember? And this is all again the Middle Ages - this is how they fought the plague in the 14th century.

Yes, the same "Azov" - in its pure form, as it were, a knightly, but quite a medieval order, where the whole ideology is implicated in the purity of blood, a mixture of paganism and primitive Christianity. Torchlight processions with portraits of Bandera. Cakes in the form of Russian babies. Cakes with photos of dead Russian officers. Stew and sausage from Moskal.

This is a collective diagnosis for all of Ukraine. And by the way, that is why you should not think that Ukrainian society will be shocked by the number of losses, or the retreat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will somehow affect morale. There will be nothing. And not only because there is an information vacuum.

Everything is easier. Medieval consciousness perceives death and loss differently. No reflection. And besides, he believes in a miraculous salvation / victory, which is provided by a miracle sword, a miracle prayer. Anything. In this case, such a miracle should be HIMARS and other military artifacts. Saint HIMARS and Jevelyn..

So it's not really a debility. It's all part of the cult.

Sergey Viktorovich Pushkin With all due respect, I would be careful not to qualify any region, country, culture, people, or ethnicity whatsoever of the world using degrading qualifiers, nor to associate hateful prejudices with them. It is simply ethically unacceptable and as scientists, we must not venture into this kind of not very glorious speech.

See also:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Scientific_Integrity_Research_Ethics_and_Higher_Education_Deontology_The_Senior_Scholars_Duty

Serbia’s Ruling Party is Rewriting World War II History

While engaging in the appropriation and nationalisation of anti-fascism, the ruling elites led by the Serbian Progressive Party paradoxically represent themselves as the bastion against revisionism and falsification of history.

To construct a heroic story of ‘liberation wars’, they have seized one of the most emancipatory moments in the history of the region formerly known as Yugoslavia...

https://balkaninsight.com/2021/05/17/serbias-ruling-party-is-rewriting-world-war-ii-history/

The Euro-Atlantic world put a geopolitical price tag on Ukraine

The principle of force remains at the heart of international relations

Motives for its use may be different. From the point of view of realpolitik, Russia's motives in this case are just. The current Ukraine is an artificial formation, like most of the modern post-Soviet republics, including Azerbaijan. But this is not about the fact that artificiality does not give the right to life and independence. Again, from the point of view of real politics, all historical constructions are somehow artificial in nature. The categories of "who is older," "who is wiser," and "who deserves more" are useless unless "I can" and "I do" are backed up. Ukraine had 30 years to prove its right to sovereign existence in the geopolitical jungle. But instead of using the human, scientific and industrial infrastructural potential left over from the Soviet Empire and forming its statehood on this basis, Kyiv chose a simpler path - the identity of opposing itself to Russia. The form “I am a titular Orthodox Ukrainian, not an Orthodox Russian” is understandable. Many used such technologies, but the local "elites" did not fill it with content.

The Euro-Atlantic path of development is a form that also lacked content. Why? It is impossible to become a part of this supranational identity by jumping over the stage of forming one's own. You cannot go into the home of self-sufficient Americans, French, Germans, British and Dutch without understanding who you are and what contribution you can make to the family. Such elites will not allow you to be part of their core, but you are always welcome to use your ardent and suicidal desire to prove loyalty. The problem is not that Ukraine wanted to join the EU and NATO, but that it wanted to do it at any cost. And this price was clear from the very beginning - to contain Russia and be a constant threat and irritant for her. Unfortunately, it was not statesmen who were in power in Kyiv, but manipulators-compradors who solved two problems - to maintain power and steal more from the national wealth.

Was Moscow supposed to put up with this from the point of view of the school of realism? No. Nor should the States put up with Soviet missiles in Cuba (which President Kennedy called "our backyard"). Since 2000, Moscow has been proposing to start a multilateral process of developing a new European security architecture, but hears only "we are not conducting dialogues on equal terms with the losers in the Cold War." Immortal rules of realpolitik: if you want to be heard - force it, if you want to be equal - get it. The call to dialogue does not work, only the force that inspires fear works. This is the only way to achieve your goals in realpolitik. The Euro-Atlantic world has placed a geopolitical price tag on Ukraine. How else to explain the fact that no one is in a hurry to fight for a “dear and valuable” colleague who has been promised a place at the family table for decades, but is kept in a room for servants and guests. Russia immediately offered a place at the table in her family, but Ukraine prefers the golden spoons and forks of the euro table. This can be understood, but not constant threats and opposition. Nothing personal, just geopolitics!

This crisis should be a lesson for countries that prefer to become part of other teams at any cost, instead of building their own independent state with their work, intelligence and pragmatism. President George Washington said it best: “A nation that treats another nation with habitual hatred or habitual kindness is, in a way, a slave. Such a nation is a slave to its hostility or its good feelings, either of the two is enough to lead it away from its duty and interests.

Fighting flat-Earth theory, physicsworld Ethics, 14 Jul 2020, Taken from the July 2020 issue of Physics World . "Physicists will find it shocking, but there are plenty of people around the world who genuinely believe the Earth is flat. Rachel Brazil explores why such views are increasingly taking hold and how the physics community should best respond...Landrum at Texas Tech says that flat-Earthers aren’t necessarily people who don’t believe in science. “It’s not really an education thing,” she says. “It really is about distrusting authorities and institutions. [It] seems to be based on both a conspiracy mentality and a deeply held belief that looks a lot like religiosity but isn’t necessarily specifically tied to a religion”....those with a conspiracy mentality have lost the ability to judge when to trust and when to be a sceptic. Their lack of trust in authority includes not just scientists but scientific bodies such as NASA, all of whom (they think) are part of a massive conspiracy to prevent the flat-Earth truth being revealed. “[They] view the world through this really dark filter where [they] assume that all authorities and institutions and corporations are just there to exploit you.”... McIntyre adds that the flat-Earthers he interacted with each believed a selection of conspiracy theories, including that governments control the weather and that chem-trails from aeroplanes consist of chemical or biological agents. “The only one I found that they all believed,” he says, “was that we hadn’t gone to the Moon. If you offer them back evidence, like the view of the Earth from the Moon, they say it’s fake.” Indeed, many flat-Earthers are more invested in the idea of a conspiracy than in providing a workable model of a flat Earth....Flat-Earthers seem to have a very low standard of evidence for what they want to believe but an impossibly high standard of evidence for what they don’t want to believe", Lee McIntyre, Boston University Read more on:

https://physicsworld.com/a/fighting-flat-earth-theory/

On 21 April 2022, I Wrote on another thread: We scientists, do we have other means of action than reflection? It is our duty to understand and explain away from any emotion, excess, and/or activism; The media and political authorities around the world are doing it very well and they are playing their part. And I'm not sure that some slip-ups or excesses helped get rid of this nightmare now. What is happening in Ukraine, in the heart of Europe, is horrifying and reminiscent of dark episodes. The scientists that we are must rise above. Europe (including Russia and other satellites from the former Soviet Union) is taking great steps backward and veiling its face so as not to admit that all of Europe is the turkey of the farce. De Gaulle very early, and even Mitterrand later with Vedrine in particular, understood the geostrategic stakes but after that, it is the decline, in the whole of Europe (including Russia and other satellites of the former Soviet Union), where an entertained irresistible wind of nationalism is blowing which recalls obscure episodes of its ancient and contemporary history. That's said once more I am convinced that we Scholars because we are Scholars, have to speak honestly the truth, It is our duty, and in this respect more than at any time since WWII we have to be intelligent and honest enough to honestly ask intelligent questions and intelligently give honest answers; that would spare Europe and the rest of the world!

All beliefs and non-beliefs as well as all spiritual convictions come under the principle of "Freedom of conscience" a fundamental Human Right. This is said, the "Enlightenment Philosophers" have made reason the leitmotif of the dialectic resulting from the teaching of Plato to dismantle any sophistic, dogmatic or superstitious discourse. Raison applies to material facts as well as immaterial things "Sprit Representation". Some "Spirit Representations", Mathematics for example are by definition of implacable rationalism and logic. This does not apply to faith, a "Spirit Representation", which is by definition a belief. And as there are several beliefs, so are the truths associated with them.

At the beginning of 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin uttered the famous phrase: "Why do we need such a world if there is no Russia there?" Then it sounded in the context of Russia's readiness to use nuclear weapons in response to enemy aggression. However, this statement has a much deeper meaning, reflecting the philosophy and worldview of the President of Russia.

The destruction of our state and our people (as well as other nations) can occur not only as a result of a nuclear strike. The likelihood of such a scenario is minimal. The emergence of nuclear weapons is so far the most effective tool to prevent the Third World War, which would have happened 40-60 years ago.

But in the modern world, in recent decades, globalism, the left-liberal ideology of building a totalitarian concentration camp under the control of the so-called world government, poses a much greater danger to us as a country and a nation. For many years, especially in the 90s and 00s, such theses were considered conspiracy theories and outright nonsense. Moreover, the globalists have done a lot of work to marginalize and bring this idea to the point of absurdity. Along with an absolutely realistic assessment, fictional versions appeared that disavowed the true meaning.

This can be compared with the assessment of Freemasonry in the XVIII-XX centuries. It is now reliably known that for centuries there have been Masonic organizations and secret societies, which included representatives of the highest authorities. It was not uncommon for a situation in which representatives of seemingly warring states entered the same society. All this is documented, and everyone can get acquainted with the relevant information.

As an example, I will cite the lodge of the Grand Orient of France, which has taken root in Russia. The para-Masonic organization "Great Orient of the Peoples of Russia" included Kerensky and a significant part of the deputies of the State Duma, which brought the country to the February Revolution.

Many laughed at the (then) hypothesis about the existence of some globalist elites, calling it a notion of conspiracy theorists. Not realizing that they themselves have become victims of the globalist left-liberal ideology, which implies the destruction of states and peoples. They fell victim to the beautiful picture and marketing, buying into the cheap productions of collective Hollywood. They themselves did not notice how they began to set as their goal the consumption of an increasing and absolutely unnecessary amount of goods and services. The cult of the Golden Calf has led to massive intellectual and moral degradation, to the degeneration of our (and not only) society. Fortunately, Russia has not passed the point of no return, which the European states have left far behind.

February 24, 2022 radically changed the course of history. Theoretically, it can be said that the globalist model of a unipolar world was already disintegrating. This is all true, but the question was how many states and peoples the globalists would drag with them into oblivion. And Russia has almost come to this abyss.

Now all the masks are off. Now things can be called by their proper names without any fear. Putin speaks openly about the existence of globalist elites and what liberalism brings with it:

“These objective processes are counteracted by Western globalist elites, provoking chaos, inciting old and new conflicts, implementing a policy of so-called containment, and in fact, undermining any alternative, sovereign paths of development. Thus, they are trying with all their might to preserve the hegemony and power that is slipping out of their hands, they are trying to keep countries and peoples in the grip of a neo-colonial order. Their hegemony means stagnation for the whole world, for the whole civilization, obscurantism and the abolition of culture, neoliberal totalitarianism.

And all this is done with one goal - to maintain its dominance, the model that allows you to parasitize the whole world, as it was centuries before, and such a model can only be kept by force.

I repeat again, the era of the unipolar world order is a thing of the past. No matter how the beneficiaries of the current globalist model cling to the usual state of affairs, it is doomed. Geopolitical changes on a historical scale are going in a completely different direction.”

It can be said without exaggeration that on February 24, Russia began the battle not only for its own existence and future. But also for the future of all mankind. We act as a battering ram to the neoliberal globalist model of the world order, accelerating the process of its destruction. It is we who, as before, are saving states and peoples from falling into the abyss of globalism, from which it is already impossible to get out. The sooner globalism and liberalism are destroyed, the more nations will survive.

But it is necessary to clearly understand that we are not fighting against specific individuals, not against specific geopolitical formations. They are only the fruit and form of existence of the left-liberal ideology. And we are fighting with it. And it is insidious, it permeates entire strata of society. And inside Russia there are a huge number of supporters of this ideology. As in February 1917, the decisive blow can be delivered not by an obvious enemy, but by a traitor within the country.

What to do with it? It is impossible to fight ideology with a repressive mechanism. It will cultivate more and more new adepts. Of course, it is necessary to stop the subversive activities of the most odious personalities, but this will be a constant struggle only with the consequences of the problem.

As in the case of nuclear weapons, nuclear deterrence, globalism must be answered with its own ideology. It should be clear and understandable, reflect the views and worldview of the majority of our people. Now I will not even list the main theses and provisions. They are well known and generally accepted. The problem is that they are not united, not structured and, as a result, cannot be the basis of the policy pursued by the state and society. This is where seemingly surprising contradictions come from, when individual ministries are guided by completely different goals and principles.

Therefore, the second stage of the battle for their own sovereign existence should be the formation of a people's ideology. Without this, we will continue to be more or less dependent on foreign influence and will not be able to offer the world a new unique path of development.

We are most lucky that the OTHER animals don't think, an act, like this.

Lou

Buddha (born in -624) said to his disciples “Purity and impurity are personal, no one can purify others.” (Own translation from French). In the same vein Shekspire (born in 1564) said:“To judge others is to judge oneself,”

A text from 1936 [1], edifying on the use of science to support racial and/or nationalist and religious theses in Europe: "A text of surprising relevance even today. One may read, in conclusion (last paragraph): "Science and the scientific spirit are in duty bound to point out the biological realities of the ethnic situation and to refuse to lend sanction to the 'racial' absurdities and the 'racial' horrors perpetrated in the name of science. Racialism is a myth and a dangerous myth. It is a cloak for selfish economic aims which in their uncloaked nakedness would look ugly enough. And it is not scientifically grounded. The essence of science is the appeal to fact, and all the facts are against the existence in modern Europe of anything in the nature of separate human 'races'".

[1] Huxley, J. (1936). "Race" in Europe. Available on: https://digital.kenyon.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=rarebooks

Back cover: "THE vague term 'race' has been much misused in modern pseudo-scientific writings and nationalist propaganda. The meaning of the term is here discussed, and the theory of an 'Aryan race' is shown to be a myth. National types, the 'Nordic' theory

the Jewish question, and the advantages of race-mixture are among the other topics dealt with.

The Pamphlet is based on sections of the book We Europeans, by Julian Huxley and A. C. Haddon, and grateful acknowledgments are due to Dr. Haddon and to Messrs. Jonathan Cape.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, AMEN HOUSE, E.C. 4

London Edinburgh Glasgow New York Toronto Melbourne Capetown Bombay Calcutta Madras

HUMPHREY MILFORD, PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY, PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN"

What a bunch of crap!

"Vulgarity cannot be improvised, One is Vulgar, One is born Vulgar, It is an Infirmity of the Soul", (Guy Bedos 1980, Own translation from French)

Totalitarianism is the ineluctable destination. Gummed up in a congealing ideology, man is reduced to a biological organism and subjected to the positivist logic whereby every aspect of thought must be eminently demonstrable. The human person becomes an atomized subject whose entire existence is as though reduced to elementary particles that interact according to the laws of mechanics. This provides the building block of the modern totalitarian state—a world, as Osip Mandelstam once observed, rendered “from man, not for.”...

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2022/07/tyranny-by-numbers

Some of these comments move well beyond words.

Lou

https://www.unz.com/page/covid-biowarfare-articles/

Lou Schmitt "Some of these comments move well beyond words." I don't grasp what this means. Do you mean "Some of these comments move well beyond words, including rude words?" Please explain, but please "de Grâce" don't use rude words. It is simply inappropriate in a discussion on serious issues, including aspects of scientific integrity.

Yes, this is correct. To be rude, need not be in words alone; rude is also a lack of academics - but still insisting upon having the word. In short, not knowing when to keep ones mouth shut.

Lou

Lou Schmitt Excuse my lack of insight, again I don't understand your response. If you purposely do not be explicit for the smooth running of the discussion, Well be it! My mistake "Au temps pour moi"!

I wish you all the best and a positive results from your discussion.

Lou

The Letter on the Blind for the Use of Those Who See is a philosophical text by Dudérot (French writer and philosopher) which dates from 1749. This is the year when the works of Didérot were seized and his Philosophical Thoughts burned. The letter, which is a pamphlet against the Church and the State, was very badly received by the ecclesiastical power and earned Didérot several months in prison. Released, he undertakes not to publish any more subversive works. In his letter "Lettre sur les aveugles à l'usage de ceux qui voient" Diderot develops audacious philosophical ideas. He wonders about the perception of the blind of the world. He has Saunderson (a mathematician born blind) says on his deathbed, in a fictional dialogue with Pastor Holmes: “If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him". His text leads to skepticism and a form of materialism close to atheism... This paper provides an excellent analysis of this philosophical text:

Curran, A. (2000). Diderot's Revisionism: Enlightenment and Blindness in the" Lettres sur les aveugles". Diderot studies, 28, 75-93.

https://www.academia.edu/download/48615083/Diderots_Revisionism.pdf

Vadim S. Gorshkov

[1] Black anger and “racial destinies” post-Obama, Claire Mestre, Marie Rose Moro In L'Autre Volume 18, Issue 1, 2017, pages 5 to 8

Jamel,

The real problem is not the existence of human races, but their equality (And equality does not mean similarity).

The real problem is not even with races its with the cultural backgrounds,

Say for example the Indian civilization at one time considered itself to be most advanced rationally and intellectually but in the course of centuries there was a lag on scientific and technological front, and the western societies took a lead, so its the experience with rational development, science and technology that determines the identity status.

Several of African tribes have their own identity stratifications that determine their place in African society. White and black contestations are only the result of scientific advancement of the west or before they only staggered around for food, raw material and natural resources.

For everyone who is familiar with the history of the Great Patriotic War, it is known that in the end the fascist regime sent fighters from the Hitler Youth, the youth organization of the NSDAP, to certain death. And in the infirmaries and in the air defense forces, members of the Union of German Girls "worked". This is because there were either no adult men left, or they refused to fight even under pain of death. Now the same is happening in Ukraine.

At first, the General Staff stated that women liable for military service (that is, whose specialties are included in a certain list) would be put on military records only with their consent. Now it has become mandatory - however, with the proviso that "severe sanctions will not be immediately applied to women who are not registered."

One way or another, it is clear what the third stage will be: it will be required to register without fail. At the fourth stage, they will begin to send to the areas of hostilities. And on the fifth and subsequent list of such "military" specialties may expand.

It is precisely by such indirect signs that one can judge what the Kyiv junta is actually doing. And understand why Russian troops are not moving deep into the territory of the former Ukraine. They simply decided to starve her out, which is much more humane than direct clashes on the front line.

Comparisons with the Nazi regime are obvious. And Ramzan Kadyrov is absolutely right when he says that since the collapse of the Soviet Union, everyone on the territory of the former Ukrainian SSR has been stuffed from a young age with fascist ideology - the superiority of one race over others. That's just not what Western "teachers" wanted. And when they realized their mistake, they preferred to close their eyes to it. Exactly the same as in the second half of the 30s.

There is, however, one big difference. Adolf Hitler, although a sick tyrant in the head, at least believed that he was acting in the interests of his people. In reality, it was the other way around, but still. And Vladimir Zelensky is deliberately selling his country, depriving it of its history, past and future, culture, and the remnants of statehood. Now he has reached the women.

Vadim S. Gorshkov

PS: The reference I mentioned is an academic article, not pages of the press "Black anger and “racial destinies” post-Obama, Claire Mestre, Marie Rose Moro In L'Autre Volume 18, Issue 1, 2017, pages 5 to 8"

However, not all forms of modern authoritarianism should be seen as clear-cut cases of totalitarianism. Putin’s Russia does not really fit the totalitarian model. Its authoritarianism is based on manipulation through disinformation, rather than trying to instil belief in a single ideology, and many other authoritarian regimes do not neatly fit the totalitarian model either. Whether China is now totalitarian, or has become something else, remains open to debate. Nor are modern far right populists who engage in elections totalitarian in this regard, as they aim to manipulate democratic systems rather than overthrow them...

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/countering-radical-right/totalitarianism-twentieth-century-and-beyond/

Thank you Dear Ljubomir Jacić for these insights on Totalitarianism and Authoritarianism and their transpositions into concrete examples. Thanks also for the quoted reference. The notion of "Novel Totalitarianism" has been discussed by Carlton J. H. Hayes during a lecture entitled "The Novelty of Totalitarianism in the History of Western Civilization", given on November 17, 1939, during the Symposium on the Totalitarian State. The content of this conference is published in the proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 82, No. 1, Symposium on the Totalitarian State (Feb. 23, 1940), pp. 91-102. This volume also contains a set of papers of great value not only academically but also historically given that this symposium took place at the beginning of WW-2. See: https://www.jstor.org/stable/i240574

Britannica dictionary says both totalitarian and authoritarian forms of government discourage individual freedom of thought and action. Totalitarianism attempts to do this by asserting total control over the lives of its citizens, whereas authoritarianism prefers the blind submission of its citizens to authority. While totalitarian states tend to have a highly developed guiding ideology, authoritarian states usually do not. Totalitarian states suppress traditional social organizations, whereas authoritarian states will tolerate some social organizations based on traditional or special interests. Unlike totalitarian states, authoritarian states lack the power to mobilize the entire population in pursuit of national goals, and any actions undertaken by the state are usually within relatively predictable limits.

China and North Korea are good examples of totalitarianism and Russia and Myanmar, even S. Arabia of Authoritrianism.

Harish K Thakur I personally agree with this definition but IMHO, the regimes in "China' is not comparable to that in "North Korea" nor the regime in "Russia" is comparable to that in "S. Arabia"

Am Spiegelgrund Hospital in Vienna: The Clinic of child Euthanasia. This is an article on the scientific and policy origins of euthanasia of mentally and physically disabled children in Vienna [1] Abstract: "Medicine in the German Third Reich became an instrument of Nazi political philosophy that included racial purification using biologic measures. This included an involuntary euthanasia program directed at mentally and physically disabled children. One such effort existed at the Am Spiegelgrund Hospital in Vienna under the direction of Dr Heinrich Gross. This article details the scientific and policy origins of child euthanasia in Vienna, the use of scientific materials obtained for personal and professional gain, and the postwar attempts to reconcile with this abject past".

[1] Thomas, F. P., Beres, A., & Shevell, M. I. (2006). “A cold wind coming”: Heinrich Gross and child euthanasia in Vienna. Journal of Child Neurology, 21(4), 342-348. Available on: Ftp53-with-cover-page-v2.pdf (d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net)

Photo Dr. Heinrich Gross and his staff selecting children for death Source: WW2 Gravestone, Heinrich Gross' activities is that after the children had been murdered, parts of their bodies, particularly their brains:

https://ww2gravestone.com/heinrich-gross-activities-children-murdered-parts-bodies-particularly-brains/

Dear Jamel,

I personally agree with this definition but IMHO, the regimes in "China' is not comparable to that in "North Korea" nor the regime in "Russia" is comparable to that in "S. Arabia"

I would prefer to disagree here with you.

The comparison of regimes hasn't to be done on political terms and nomenclature rather under certain parameters,

for example the degree of autonomy of private institutions, individual rights, and freedoms and extent of state control, different states put such parameters can tell you the degree of authoritarianism of state and individual space. so Russia can be compared with S Arabia and China with Korea too,.

Dear Vadim S. Gorshkov

[1] https://www.researchgate.net/post/Scientific_Integrity_Research_Ethics_and_Higher_Education_Deontology_The_Senior_Scholars_Duty

My bad ´au temps pour moi‘ goy it: we are in Line, don’t we?

The political system in Serbia has regressed below the democratic minimum and, without radical changes, which are currently not even hinted at, there is no chance for the restoration of democracy in Serbia, while the mere fact that there are similar phenomena in the EU does not mean that the EU would receive such new members. On the contrary...

https://pescanik.net/road-to-nowhere/

On the genesis of Hutus/Tutsi genocide: This paper [1] shows how a discursive shift towards an anti-Tutsi ideology among Hutu extremists fuelled the 1994 Rwandan Genocide "Contexte: Under Belgian colonial rule, a system based on racial division had been established in the country which positioned Tutsis as more “noble” than Hutus and ensured that they had a monopoly on leadership positions, whilst the Hutus were forced into labour camps. This situation was reversed with a Hutu uprising in 1959. The ‘Social Revolution’ led to Rwandan independence in 1962 and upturned the racial hatred towards the Tutsis... Positioning Theory: A group is assigned a position in the social and moral order, which comes with a set of rights and obligations; this positioning is created through storytelling practices and realized through speech and other acts....TO CONCLUDE: the constant reiteration of these narrative shifts creates a new interpretative repertoire within which the Hutu have their position, recalibrated away from supporting the government’s fight to preserve the gains of 1959.... Such an urgent narrative does not rely on the authority of history or science but reacts to the repeated calls of those close to the ground and implies a moral authority derived from military heroism and community solidarity.”

[1] Rothbart, D., & Bartlett, T. (2008). Rwandan radio broadcasts and Hutu/Tutsi positioning. In Global conflict resolution through positioning analysis (pp. 227-246). Springer, New York, NY.

Available on:

https://oicd.net/wp-content/uploads/Rothbart-Bartlett-2008-Summary.docx.pdf

Utilitarianism and Totalitarianism: The work of Jeremy Bentham and his thought formed the theoretical bases for the doctrine of utilitarianism. This makes the useful, that which serves life or happiness, the principle of all values. Pragmatic and Efficient, utilitarianism is Concrete in that it makes it possible to apply optimization theories to human actions, providing, for example, the theoretical basis for economic liberalism. Where the bet offends is in the generalization of doctrine to all values which leads to intolerable misconduct, sometimes unacceptable from the point of view of Ethics. So much so that one can allow himself to think that utilitarianism is a form of Totalitarianism at the origin of injustice, inequalities, and impostures of different kinds at different national, regional, and global scales.

Photo: The stuffed body of Jeremy Bentham still lies in a glass cabinet at University College, London. His head is a wax replica. Abaca/World History Archive

On Genetic Discrimination (GD) The U.S. federal law "Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)" protects US citizens against genetic discrimination in the workplace and through their health insurance. It also safeguards individual and family privacy of genetic information. With new advances in science, technology, and data management, GINA seems to need to be updated. This is what this recent paper [1] "Looking Beyond GINA: Policy Approaches to Address Genetic Discrimination" suggests. One may read within the abstract: "...Our examination begins with regions featuring extensive policy-making activities (North America and Europe), followed by regions with moderate policy-making activities (Australia, Asia, and South America) and regions with minimal policy-making activities (the Middle East and Africa). Our analysis then turns to emerging issues regarding genetic testing and GD, including the expansion of multiomics sciences and direct-to-consumer genetic tests outside the health context. We additionally survey the shortcomings of current normative approaches addressing GD. Finally, we conclude by highlighting the evolving nature of GD and the need for more innovative policy-making in this area."

[1] Joly, Y., Dupras, C., Pinkesz, M., Tovino, S. A., & Rothstein, M. A. (2020). Looking beyond GINA: policy approaches to address genetic discrimination. Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics, 21, 491-507.

The summary of this paper [1] "Roland Breeur: Lies—Imposture—Stupidity" is a remarkable definition of the true deep sense of what is meant by "IMPOSTURE". Abstract: "Whenever we think of impostors, we tend to think of liars. Yet impostures cannot be phenomenologically reduced to lies. Every lie presupposes a distinction between true and false, and it operates through a negation of reality, presenting falsity as truth and vice versa. An imposture, on the other hand, seeks to erase the distinction between true and false altogether. An impostor constructs a fiction that aims at substituting reality. In this process, an entire network of lies is put to work in order to attain the ontological status of the real. This results in a dynamic that deprives truths of their authority, while making untruths highly potent in terms of their capacity to produce effects"

[1] Magomedov, E. (2021). Roland Breeur: Lies—Imposture—Stupidity. Continental Philosophy Review, 54(1), 113-117. Available on: https://www.academia.edu/download/65414028/Review_Roland_Breeur_Lies_Imposture_Stupidity.pdf

Antievolution and creationism in the United States [1] "Evolution is considered controversial by a substantial minority of Americans. Religious opposition explains this, but this opposition is comprised of a broad continuum of religious views... Scholars largely ignored antievolutionism until efforts to pass “equal time for creation and evolution” laws stimulated both political and scholarly activism. Lately, there are efforts to discourage the teaching of evolution by requiring teachers to read disclaimers before teaching it, to teach it as “theory, not fact,” or to present fancied “evidence against evolution.” Recently, “intelligent design theory,” a restatement of William Paley’s Argument from Design, has surfaced. Although rejected by scientists, intelligent design arguments and publications are appearing at the college level (in nonscience courses) as accurate representations of scientific scholarship".

[1] Scott, E. C. (1997). Antievolution and creationism in the United States. Annual review of anthropology, 263-289. Available on:

Article Antievolution and Creationism in the United States

I am reporting here an exchange of correspondence that I had with a young researcher. Uplifting! Respect for this young researcher! who finds himself trapped in the IMPOSTURE related to scientific research and publication funding that has become disconcertingly commonplace

Young researcher: "...I am ***. I often publish papers in reputed journals. Sir, if i can get some contractual job there as a part time researcher job; in which i can publish papers including you/your staff members name as authors/co-authors i will be happy."

.....

Me: "And you find this normal? Honest?"

Young researcher: "Coz some journals ask APC and I'm unable to pay"

.....

Me: "For my part, I never submit papers to journals asking APC. I find it something like buying a publication and this does not fit with my conviction. Moreover, and with all due respect, I find it nonethical and even hateful to deal with "Ghost-Writers" and for instance "Ghost-Researcher""

Young researcher: "I sincerely appreciate your thinking and knowledge regarding Journals".

Me: "Thank you. This is what I am applying to my students and to my team of researchers: None of them has paid any APC for publication. Let's say until now because I am going to retire. I hope the team will continue the same way".

Young researcher: "They're lucky for having such a knowledgeable and sincere gentleman. Surely they will obey you".

The summary of this paper [1] "Roland Breeur: Lies—Imposture—Stupidity" is a remarkable definition of the true deep sense of what is meant by "IMPOSTURE". Abstract: "Whenever we think of impostors, we tend to think of liars. Yet impostures cannot be phenomenologically reduced to lies. Every lie presupposes a distinction between true and false, and it operates through a negation of reality, presenting falsity as truth and vice versa. An imposture, on the other hand, seeks to erase the distinction between true and false altogether. An impostor constructs a fiction that aims at substituting reality. In this process, an entire network of lies is put to work in order to attain the ontological status of the real. This results in a dynamic that deprives truths of their authority, while making untruths highly potent in terms of their capacity to produce effects"

[1] Magomedov, E. (2021). Roland Breeur: Lies—Imposture—Stupidity. Continental Philosophy Review, 54(1), 113-117. Available on: https://www.academia.edu/download/65414028/Review_Roland_Breeur_Lies_Imposture_Stupidity.pdf

A politician who did not want to rule

An assessment of Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022)

By the standards of statecraft, he must be judged harshly, like one of the most extraordinary failures in history. By the standards of humanity, he must be judged much more kindly: he allowed millions to regain freedom, not only proclaimed, but stuck to the principles of non-violence in domestic and foreign affairs, and left his office willingly, when he did not need to do, simply because he did not want to fight and risk lives in order to keep it. But being nice and, in fact, anti-political, he left the field open to much worse men...

https://branko2f7.substack.com/p/a-politician-who-did-not-want-to

Thank you Dear Ljubomir Jacić for the insight and for the material. In the same vein this is a citation from (Mahamadé Savadogo, "Pour une éthique de l'engagement" For ethics of commitment, 2008): "Without going so far as to admit that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" (le chemin de l'enfer est pavé de bonnes intentions), it is inevitable to recognize that good intention alone cannot save me from remorse, even less from fault." (Own translation from French)

For ethics of commitment, Mahamadé Savadogo Namur University Press, 2008, 4th Cover: "Is a new look at ethics still possible today? This book confronts this essential question through its various chapters. Starting from a reflection on the relationship between reason and ethics, it leads to a confrontation with the theme of the renewal of ethics. The accomplishment of this path requires him, along the way, to lead a discussion not only with the ethical theories inherited from the philosophical tradition but also with the contemporary ethics of the face, discussion, or of recognition, in order to identify the conditions contemporaneous with a renewal of ethics. Ultimately, this book culminates in the formulation of the project of an ethic of commitment, behind which looms the quest for an optimism commensurate with our times. Mahamadé SAVADOGO. Born in 1963. Professor at the University of Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso, where he directs doctoral training in philosophy, director of the review "Le Cahier Philosophique d'Afrique", he has already published with the Presses Universitaires de Namur Sketch of a theory of creation in 2005 and Éric Weil and the completion of philosophy in action in 2004". (Own translation from French)

On Hubris and hubristic behavior. "The most important discussion of hubris in antiquity is by Aristotle in his Rhetoric: "Hubris consists in doing and saying things that cause shame to the victim…simply for the pleasure of it. Retaliation is not hubris, but revenge.… Young men and the rich are hubristic because they think they are better than other people" (Encyclopaedia Britannica). And I would add: All the givers of lessons and other thoughts masters are driven by an inordinate hubris in that they consider that they hold the truth while making it their mission to teach it to morons.

Examples of hubristic behaviors. Hunting big game is the most demonstrative form of hubris. Royal activity par excellence, hunting tigers was the favorite sport of the maharajas. By doing it, Colons take themselves for Royal rank. The elephant is undoubtedly the most emblematic symbol of this mythical India. Always present during tiger hunts, the elephant is also very useful in the countryside. The Indians still use it as a ceremonial vehicle or as a means of dispensing expeditious justice.

Illustrations source: http://indedunord.free.fr/pages/maharadja/pages/maharadja%2001.htm

Woman transported by jinrikisha (rickshaw- pousse pousse), Guimet Museum, Paris, Distr. Rmn / Image Guimet, Photograph 45 from the album AP15884, early 1890s. It is well known that this brave "Kuruma" could miss food for himself and his family if he did not carry customers. But that does not prevent me from thinking about Human Condition and on Human Hubris: By far I would rather be transported in a motorized vehicle while taking the time to sympathize with the driver

Commentary by Kōzaburō Tamamura

The rickshaw, jinrikisha in Japanese 1 (人力車), was developed in Japan around 1870, then exported by the British throughout their empire under the abbreviation of rickshaw. It is still in use in Calcutta. In Japan, it advantageously replaced the very slow and uncomfortable kago (cf. proof 15929) and was acclaimed by Japanese city dwellers and visitors to the point that this new element of Japanese modernity was paradoxically considered by Westerners as an element of modernity. 'traditional' exoticism of Japan and widely represented in tourist albums where, on the other hand, one very rarely finds a test of the horse-drawn trams of Tōkyō or the new train lines, other new means of transport. For short distances in town it was pulled by a single kuruma or djin, according to the vocabulary of the time for the rickshaw puller. (Own traduction from French)

Source:

https://guimet-photo-japon.fr/notices/notice.php?id=389

On Human condition and Human Hubris. Photo From French School of the Far East, No. EFEO_VIE06765, Location: Asia, Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Hoa Binh (province), Cao Phong (district) "A hunter (in white) and touts (about thirty) gathered after the hunt with a deer killed" (Own translation from French). I would personally be embarrassed to be the hunter (to boot, I don't like hunting) and if it's not a matter of life or death I would refuse to do the toot: So neither one nor the other, and it's perfect like that.

Source:

https://collection.efeo.fr/ws/web/app/collection/record/236289

On Human Condition and Human Hubris: The roof of the world, Everest takes its name from George Everest, of the Indian cartography office. "The expeditions of Western adventurers-explorers, launched to attack the famous Himalayan peak, under high media coverage, masked the fantastic exploits of indigenous men whose physical and mental qualities made it possible to conquer Everest: the Sherpas. These humble and courageous men are at the heart of all the exploits, at the beginning and at the end of all the ascents. Tireless carriers, forged in the rock and endowed with a high sense of sacrifice, they are often presented as a simple number within the expeditions (Mallory, Irvine and 94 Sherpas, Hunt, Hillary and 125 Sherpas). Their knowledge of the most famous mountain in the world, their courage, and their endurance meant that no pair could approach the summit (8848 m) without a Sherpa being part of it..."

Source: http://www.lecalame.info/?q=node/13426

Illustration 2 source: https://www.montagnes-magazine.com/actus-histoire-everest-conquis-premiere-fois

Personally, I would feel ridiculous and small, if to reach the summit of Everest, I need porters who will carry me there (Besides, I am not rich enough to pay for the expedition), and if it's not a matter of life or death I would refuse to do the Sherpa: So neither one nor the other, and it's perfect like that

History will always be a politically charged subject, but our contemporary discussions denounce and dismiss too easily those who question popular interpretations...

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/claiming-arguments-cause-harm-will-make-learning-impossible?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial-daily&spMailingID=21247478&spUserID=MTAxNzcwNzE4MTk2NAS2&spJobID=2070072942&spReportId=MjA3MDA3Mjk0MgS2

Expertise versus "strategic ignorance" serving energy policies and environmental claims. This is an interesting paper on the topic based on shale gas examples in France and Quebec [1]. Strategic ignorance and politics of time: how expert knowledge framed shale gas policies. Abstract: "This article addresses the various uses of expert knowledge during the controversy over shale gas in France and in Quebec (Canada). Cross-fertilization between policy analysis and science and technology studies demonstrates that political uses of expertise better explained the policymaking process in focusing on two specific utilizations: strategic ignorance and politics of time. Using data from press analysis, interviews, reports and documentation analysis, this article shows that social movements can also use strategic ignorance to support their environmental claims and that mastering the pace of the controversy and the policy debates enabled actors to better support their policy claims. The French case illustrates those two arguments while the Quebec case provides a more tradition account of State/Industry’s utilization of knowledge production to delay decision and divert opposition".

[1] Chailleux, S. (2020). Strategic ignorance and politics of time: how expert knowledge framed shale gas policies. Critical Policy Studies, 14(2), 174-192.

Available on: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01985818/document

Senior lecturer in Islam receives note telling him to ‘go back to where he belongs’ in latest of several menacing incidents...

An academic who received a threatening letter calling him an “outsider” who was “diluting Irishness” has said the way he has been treated is indicative of how the Irish sector lags behind other countries in tackling racism...

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/academic-says-racist-abuse-regular-occurrence-ireland?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial-daily&spMailingID=21391047&spUserID=MTAxNzcwNzE4MTk2NAS2&spJobID=2071661351&spReportId=MjA3MTY2MTM1MQS2

On the Genesis of Oligarch regimes in the post-communist period. A twenty years old paper "The Post-Communist Mafia State as a form of criminal state" [1] provides the characteristic aspects of the fundamental politico-socio-economic transformation of the past-communist areas. A kind of a new nationalist tolitalitarism. One may read there: "In post-communist regimes, the four most important constituent phenomena, which the proposed new analytical framework must be built on and correspond with, are the following:

• rudimentary or no separation of spheres of social action, which distinguishes post-communist countries from the Western world at their very bases;
• the privatization process being a matter of creating the property owners, following that post-communist regimes started off from a state monopoly of property;
• operation of executive power in informal organizations according to a patron-client system, which is a typical form of power relationship in post-communist countries;
• “privatization” of public authority, following that the more patronal the politics is, the less a separation will be observed between the rulers and the ruled assets—using Max Weber’s categories."

[1] Magyar, B. (2002). The post-communist mafia state as a form of criminal state. Problems of Post-Communism, 49(4), 22-32. Available on:

2018.01.06.-Magyar-Bálint-IWM-The-Post-Communist-Mafia-State-as-a-form-of-criminal-state.pdf (postcommunistregimes.com)

Bravo! & Thanks!

On the book by Jurdant, B. (2010). Impostures scientifiques: les malentendus de l'affaire Sokal. La Découverte. (Own traduction from French) "Scientific Impostures, The Misunderstandings of the Sokal Affair, Baudouin Jurdant, In 1996, the publication in the United States of the "true-false" article by American physicist Alan Sokal, aimed at denouncing in a hoax mode the intellectual ravages wrought, according to him, by "postmodernism", then the publication in France in 1997 of the book written with Jean Bricmont (Intellectual Impostures), hit the headlines. For these authors, it was urgent to denounce the "abusive extrapolations from the exact sciences to the human sciences" of intellectuals such as Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva, Jean Baudrillard, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari and Paul Virilio, and even more to criticize the "relativism » researchers from the new school of sociology of science, in the forefront of which Bruno Latour. Apparently struck at the corner of common sense, this frontal attack met with a very wide echo. And yet, the impostures are not on the side we believe. Because the positivism claimed by Sokal and Bricmont hides in fact a deep incomprehension of the authors whom they attack and a surprising ignorance of the major political and philosophical stakes revealed by the works on the “hard sciences” of the researchers of the “soft sciences”. It was therefore essential to dismantle the impostures and misunderstandings of the "Sokal" affair: such is the objective of this book, which brings together original contributions from researchers from various backgrounds - physicists, philosophers of science, anthropologists... No Without humour, they intend to share with the reader their common passion for science as it is done (much more interesting than the mythical science of certain scientists), and plead for a reconciliation between philosophers and physicists, to finally put an end to the “war of science”.

I am posting the following comment on thin the recent paper Psychology of Coloured People: A Critical Note to the Dominance of Euro-American-Oriented Psychology over the Psychology of Non-Western Countries by Carl HD Steinmetz (2022) Article Psychology of Coloured People: A Critical Note to the Domina...

I am mentioning this research within the discussion threads on related topics:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Science_and_history_serving_political_and_ideological_totalitarianism

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Scientific_Integrity_on_ResearchGate"

Dear Readers: This is an old well-cited (291 citations) article [1] on Adverse Effects of Meditation. One may read at the very end of the conclusion: "This article suggests a middle road, between uncritical hosannahs of meditation's effectiveness, and equally uncritical dismissal of that which does not neatly conform to the biases of rationalistic science. On the one hand, we as scientists and therapists may need to be open to exploring ultimate issues and world views which do not neatly fit within our preexisting paradigm. On the other hand, we also need to be careful that we not allow our beliefs systems to keep us from blindly seeing growth where there may in fact be harm occurring".

[1] Shapiro Jr, D. H. (1992). Adverse Effects ofMeditation: A Preliminary Investigation ofLong-Tenn Meditators. International Journal of Psychosomatics, 39(1-4), 63.

Available on:

http://deanehshapirojr.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Adverse-Effect-of-Meditation.pdf

See also:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Scientific_Integrity_Research_Ethics_and_Higher_Education_Deontology_The_Senior_Scholars_Duty/14

Dear Readers: This is a relevant paper [1] on The potential for Abuse in the Guru-Disciple relationship. One may read at the very end of the paper "The guru-disciple relationship is probably the most authoritarian of all in its demands for surrender and obedience. Hence it can be the most destructive. And so far from achieving the enlightenment and freedom that many of us “wannabe” spiritual pioneers of the 1970s sought (and were promised), we experienced mental imprisonment and confusion. We were seduced by yogis and swamis telling us what we wanted to hear: that we were special and that they were God incarnate. Our need was our downfall. If and when we escaped, the questions that often lingered were “What if it is just me, something wrong with me? Have I failed, given up too soon?”

|1] Garden, M. (2005). The potential for Abuse in the Guru-Disciple relationship. ICSA Newsletter, 4.

See also:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Scientific_Integrity_Research_Ethics_and_Higher_Education_Deontology_The_Senior_Scholars_Duty/14

Universities should make democracy education a requirement

Universities have an obligation to restore democracy education as a core element of their institutional mission and should make rigorous study of democracy a requirement...

For years, we have witnessed the rapid rise of illiberal democracies around the globe. In countries like Hungary, the parties in power have maintained nominal majoritarian rule as elected leaders chip away at core democratic institutions (universities among them).

Under such a looming threat, liberal democracy is more precious than ever...

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=2022092310331355

Thank you Dear Ljubomir Jacić for this excellent proposal. It is all the more relevant since certain "citadels of science" have no problem opening the way to new para-pseudo-scientific teachings which, without prejudging their effectiveness with regard to the well-being of their practitioners, are based on methods that drive from mystical, religious, or sectarian beliefs and convictions. See for Example: https://www.lumes.lu.se/programme-overview/programme-outline/3rd-semester/sustainability-and-inner-transformation

Do you think the alarmist theses on climate change and its effects on water resource scarcity are likely to provide some politicians and water stakeholders with straightforward arguments to justify the shortcomings in sustainable water resources management and exploitation? Do you think that some water policies in some developing countries are influenced by diverse lobbying supported by interested international investments, Just read news in the south of the Mediterranean, where the solution that is promoted to face water stress is to resort to massive desalination of seawater, with paradoxically all that it implies in energy consumption and CO2 emissions; when, at the same time, water resources are wasted and sold off for various lucrative purposes.

The policy of history that was carried out by the Russian state during the last decade can now be retrospectively interpreted as a preparation for war with Ukraine. This policy is distinguished by several key characteristics. First, it is characterized by the general tendency of today towards losing the vision of the future and striving to find justification for the present in the past. Second, the history of Russia is considered exclusively as the history of the Russian state, which reproduces its unchanging essence in its various forms (either as the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union) and at various stages of its existence. In such a perspective, Russia is equal to its territory, a biologically understood people and an essentialistically understood culture. Russian propaganda constantly talks about the "civilization code" - this clearly testifies to the fact that culture is considered something innate, acquired at the genetic level. In such a paradigm, the cultural code is equal to the genetic code, and is, consequently, immutable.

Finally, the history of Russia is reduced to the history of the country's struggle with external enemies and the conquest of new territories. In such a model of history, internal political processes, the development of society and culture play a subordinate role and are relegated to the background...

https://pescanik.net/o-karakteristikama-putinove-politike-istorije/

This is an old well-cited academic paper [1] THE TRANSPERSONAL PERSPECTIVE: A PERSONAL OVERVIEW. by Frances E. Vaughan Adapted from a keynote presentation at the 7th Annual Conference, International Transpersonal Association, Bombay, India, 1982. Note that Vaughan has intelligently put his outstanding analysis under the mention "A personal overview" underlining the fact that all metaphysical thoughts (beliefs, traditions, religions, convictions...) can only be "personal" including when it comes to understanding and analyzing them: these understandings and analyzes remain personal. The author concludes his study with a recommendation that comes from Gautama Buddha: "Do not believe in what you have heard. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do not believe anything because it is rumored and spoken of by many. Do not believe merely because the written statement of some old sage is produced. Do not believe in conjectures. Do not believe merely in the authority of your teachers and elders. After observation and analysis, when it agrees with reason and it is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it"

[1] Vaughan, F. (1982). The transpersonal perspective: A personal overview. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 14(1), 37-45.

Available on:

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.461.9273&rep=rep1&type=pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/totalitarianism

This paper [1] by Émilie DARDENNE (2021) The Tipping Point? The Covid-19 Crisis, Critical Animal Studies and Academic Responsibility tries to bring answers to the two major questions: In the face of the Covid-19 outbreak and crisis, a world-changing event, what role should academia play? Does it have an ethical role to play in such an emergency situation? Many interesting topics are discussed: critical animal studies, academia and research responsibility, epistemology and scholactivism, human-animal relations...; and an interesting analysis of scientific lobbying is presented. One may read paragraphs 46 and 47:

"46 Scientific lobbying is a reality: the corporate world (Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Oil, etc.) exploits academic research for its own ends (Demortain). As university professor and epidemiologist David Michaels has recently shown, powerful multinational corporations undermine scientific consensus in the name of profit. Just as uncertainty about the link between smoking and lung cancer was manufactured by Big Tobacco, Michaels documents how Big Sugar spends millions promoting new research supporting the thesis that all calories are equal and that increased exercise, not switching to a healthier diet, is the best way to address diet-related health issues (Michaels 203-204).

47 Big industry also tries to undermine university programmes or studies that do not align with its interests. Two examples can illustrate this in connection with issues pertaining to animal agriculture. First, that of American epidemiologist Steve Wing, who had first-hand experience of the outsize influence of Big Ag on his research in 1999 as he was working on a study looking into the impacts of industrial pig production facilities on human health for the University of North Carolina. When the pork industry heard of the research, they demanded access to all documents that contained results of the study. They went after him, asking to turn over any documentation. They went to the university and got lawyers to try and make him hand his data over. The Pork Council said they would evaluate whether any of the statements were defamatory. The university warned the epidemiologist that if he failed to hand over the documents, he could be arrested and even sent to jail (Wing 441). Second, closer to home, the launch of an animal studies programme at Rennes 2 University in 2019 provoked similar reactions, although it is related to training and not research. French agribusiness was unhappy with the fact that the teaching team included several academics and two animal rights professionals (a lawyer and an animal ethics instructor). The president of the university received several complaint letters from the Beef Industry and the National Confederation of Butchers, while the animal production lobby in Parliament tried to launch a smear campaign in the media and alerted the Ministry of Higher Education about the “blatant vested interests” of this programme (Le Fur), not to mention the traditional monopolisation of knowledge pertaining to animals by the natural sciences. This implicit hierarchy in the knowledge order itself manifested itself most clearly when the animal studies programme launched at Rennes 2 University came under attack from colleagues in the neurosciences. They in turn wrote to the president and deplored the fact that “there are no university specialists either of animals, animal ethics or nutrition” in the programme, even though the director (myself) had been working on animal ethics for many years, and other colleagues had been studying human-nonhuman animal relationships from the points of view of the history of science, sociology or geography".

[1] DARDENNE, É. (2021). The Tipping Point? The Covid-19 Crisis, Critical Animal Studies and Academic Responsibility. E-rea. Revue électronique d’études sur le monde anglophone, (18.2). Available on:

https://journals.openedition.org/erea/12283

Why Populists Don’t Concede

With election denial becoming a new global trend, it is necessary to ask why so many citizens would accept leaders who fraudulently cry “fraud.” Even when they leave power quietly, populist politicians have exploited political polarization and indoctrinated their supporters never to trust the system...

In the run-up to Brazil’s presidential election next month, President Jair Bolsonaro is crafting his own version of former US President Donald Trump’s “Big Lie”: the claim that a loss at the ballot box is fraudulent. Incumbents who adopt this tactic might simply refuse to concede, while still leaving quietly. Or, more dangerously, they can foment outrage and even incite violence by their supporters...

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-bolsonaro-political-logic-behind-the-big-lie-by-jan-werner-mueller-2022-09

Mexican scientist Héctor Cabrera-Fuentes was convicted in June for helping Russia spy on the United States. Before that, the scientist was involved in talks with the Mexican government, which hoped he could drum up Asian financing for an ambitious railway project, known as the Trans-Isthmus Corridor.  If completed, the railway could challenge the Panama Canal and potentially disrupt American hegemony in the region...

https://www.occrp.org/en/61-ccblog/16871-scientist-convicted-for-helping-russia-spy-on-us-had-high-level-mexican-political-connections

Thank you dear Ljubomir Jacić for this excellent insight. It is indeed lamentably distressing that scientists, academics and thinkers abandon their noble mission of being the conscience of humanity to consciously or conscientiously engage in (very personal) projects that have nothing to do with knowledge, a kind of academic misconduct. In this regard, I find this interview by Frank Meester and Maarten Meesterwith (2000) more than 20 years ago with the French "Philosopher" Bernard Henry Levy (BHL) edifying, where one can read: "“ Je t’embrasse.” The philosopher ends the phone call and places the tiny Ericsson cell phone on the table next to his Ray Bans. He turns to his interviewers: “Where were we?”... If you want to write about BHL’s work, you have to write about the personality of BHL whose admirers refer to him by the phonetically pronounced acronym Bay-Ash-Ell.... You simply can’t ignore his perennially white shirt with the four top buttons left open, the thick lock of black hair and his reputation as a womanizer.....“I never saw a cruder media stunt,” remarks Luuk van Middelaar in his book about French political philosophy entitled Politicide. According to him it could have been a publicity stunt for a new laundry soap. .... “The intrinsic content of their thought is slight,” concluded Gilles Deleuze. Yet he felt that they brought something new to the scene: “Instead of creating a school, they introduced literary or philosophical marketing into France. … Lévy is sometimes an impresario, sometimes a script-girl, the jolly master of ceremonies or simply the new movement’s disc jockey.” To give the reader an idea of his novel approach to philosophy, here are BHL’s answers to Kant’s three questions:

What can I know? “Little, very little, except that things are going badly and that the prophets of happiness often bring disaster.”

What can I hope for? “Also little, very little, if Master is indeed another name for the World; as soon as one is dethroned the next one takes his place.”

What must I do? “You must oppose the threat of barbarism wherever it comes from.”

Given this limited philosophical program, it wasn’t surprising to see him act in public more often than behind his writing desk. BHL was François Mitterand’s court philosopher, he filmed Sarajewo, he nearly created a political party and he is still constantly in the news...." Read more on:

Meester, M. (2000). An Interview with Bernard-Henri Lévy: Grandeur and Misery of Commitment. Sartre Studies International, 6(2).

--------

Et on Connaît la suite .... ça continue ....à suivre

Through his lecturing at Leiden University and a regular column in the biggest Dutch daily newspaper, Afshin Ellian enjoys a public profile in the Netherlands. Yet when he sits down to talk to THE, he does so from a locked corridor with a dedicated security guard. Tehran-born Professor Ellian was invited from Iran to the Netherlands in 1989 as part of a UN programme for political refugees, and has since become a prominent critic of radical, political Islam - for which he has received death threats. He wants rectors across Europe to offer greater support to those threatened by radical Islam or the far right. “That’s a very important message to the community, to the young, to other professors. The danger of tyranny and terror is the danger of self-censorship and capitulation,” he said...

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/iranian-dissident-rectors-should-speak-threatened-staff?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial-daily&spMailingID=21967402&spUserID=MTAxNzcwNzE4MTk2NAS2&spJobID=2091268297&spReportId=MjA5MTI2ODI5NwS2

Science is “a shared experience, subject both to the best of what creativity and imagination have to offer and to humankind’s worst excesses...

Among those worst excesses is racism. For centuries, science has built a legacy of excluding people of colour and those from other historically marginalized groups from the scientific enterprise. Institutions and scientists have used research to underpin discriminatory thinking, and have prioritized research outputs that ignore and further disadvantage marginalized people...

https://www.nature.com/immersive/d42859-022-00031-8/index.html

What’s New About the New Authoritarianism?

It is a well-established empirical finding that democracies have declined in number and in quality in recent years. It seems to follow that another political system is becoming more prevalent—but how the alternative differs from previous forms of autocratic politics remains an unsettled question. Although much attention has focused on so-called strongmen, such as former U.S. President Donald Trump and former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, they are hardly novel characters in world history. But what enabled their rise now, and can their brand of governance survive beyond them?

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/08/06/review-new-authoritarianism-spin-dictators-age-strongman-great-experiment/

The connection between the poet and the fall of society into the hands of tyrants has long been pointed out by Josif Brodski, who described this relationship as follows: "If a poet has any obligation towards society, it is to write well... Society, on the other hand, has no obligation towards the poet... Non-reading , however, results in the deterioration of society to the point where it easily falls into the clutches of demagogues or tyrants. It is society's equivalent of oblivion; a tyrant, of course, can try to save his subjects with some spectacular bloodshed". However, today's poets rush into the arms of tyrants and give them legitimacy with their singing and opinions. Then why the old story about poets and tyrants if there was a redefinition of their relationship for the last quarter of a century, how much has passed since Brodski's death?

https://pescanik.net/casovi-ruskog/

Professors living under restrictive regimes often finds themselves trapped in times of political upheaval. Their students may be ready to risk their liberty and lives for change, but those who have won a tenured position are typically less willing to follow them. The dynamic has played out in Iran in recent weeks, as nationwide protests that began in mid-September over the death of Mahsa Amini come to the end of their first month...

While a few scholars have joined protests or even resigned, the majority are keeping their heads down...

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/academics-under-mounting-pressure-join-iranian-protests?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial-daily&spMailingID=22231838&spUserID=MTAxNzcwNzE4MTk2NAS2&spJobID=2094274830&spReportId=MjA5NDI3NDgzMAS2

When political sanctions come to compromise or tame the "virtuous" mission of Adam Smith's invisible hand and undermine the very meaning of international free trade. The example of Nord Stream 2 is, in this respect, edifying. One may read within the conclusion of Jacobsen's (2021) paper [1]: "The US sanctions on Nord Stream 2 have delayed the project but have not yet outright stopped it. Germany, the primary benefactor of the pipeline in the EU, is not pleased with these sanctions as the delays have caused major financial strain within German borders. Germany believes that the US is overstepping by interfering in its internal affairs and the region's internal affairs. On the other hand, Poland, Ukraine, and several other Central and Eastern European states support the sanctions and adamantly oppose the pipeline. If Nord Stream 2 is completed, Ukraine and Poland will lose a large amount of revenue through tariffs on Russian gas. Also, Ukraine's position against Russia will be weakened as they would lose the protective leverage that the pipelines through Ukraine provide. For the Czech Republic, Nord Stream 2 would have a net positive financial effect. It would initially double the amount of gas flowing through the Czech Republic, allowing for lower gas prices and increasing the amount of money generated by tariffs. However, this positive effect would dwindle, as there is no intention to keep all of the current gas contracts going to their present extent. Despite the financial benefits, there is still a large amount of concern over the geopolitical implications and consequences of the project for Czechia as Russia gains more influence. The economic benefits must be weighed against the potential threat Russia poses both to Czechia and the region. Despite opposing views, the EU and the US should not allow this dispute to disrupt transatlantic cooperation. Economically speaking, there is no sense in starting a trade war, exchanging sanctions back-and-forth, or generally poisoning relations over this issue. The US and EU are among each other's largest trade partners. The goods and services traded between the two in 2018 were almost $1.3 trillion, and maintaining this relationship is nothing but beneficial to both sides"

[1] Jacobsen, R. (2021). US Sanctions on Nord Stream 2. Institute for Politics and Society. POLICY BRIEF / JANUARY 2021

Available on:

https://www.politikaspolecnost.cz/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/US-Sanctions-on-Nord-Stream-2-IPPS.pdf

Adam Smith's Invisible Hand can shape wonders including banana republics. This well-cited paper shows how this is possible and gives examples from Central America on the genesis and how it works: Bucheli, M. (2008). Multinational corporations, totalitarian regimes and economic nationalism: United Fruit Company in Central America, 1899–1975. Business History, 50(4), 433-454.

"The US multinational United Fruit Company has been considered the quintessential representative of American imperialism in Central America. Not only did the company enjoy enormous privileges in that region, but also counted on authoritarian governments in dealing with labour unrest. The literature assumes that United Fruit and the dictators were natural allies due to their opposition to organised unionism. This paper shows that this alliance could only survive as long as the multinational provided the dictators with economic stability for the country. However, when the multinational proved to be incapable of doing that, the dictators allied with the working class to confront the multinational and extract higher rents from it"

Civilization "I mean the civilized world" works like a one-way mirror. The brain drain/hunting from developing countries has never been so active. Paradoxically, the South/North Knowledge transfer is not a recent phenomenon: In Africa, the countries most affected by the brain drain in the early 2000s are low-income countries: Cape Verde (67% of qualified personnel), Gambia (63%), Mauritius (56%), Morocco (17%), Tunisia (9.6%), Egypt (4.6%), Burkina Faso (2.6%). The islands of Cape Verde, Samoa, Gambia and Somalia have seen in recent years more than half of their executives leave for rich countries. Jeune Afrique n°2340, du 13 au 19 novembre 2005, p96

A one-way mirror, also called two-way mirror, is a reciprocal mirror that appears reflective on one side and transparent at the other. The perception of one-way transmission is achieved when one side of the mirror is brightly lit and the other side is dark. Wikipedia

CPI 2021 for Eastern Europe & Central Asia: Democratic hopes in the shadow of growing authoritarianism 

As the second lowest performing region on the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index, Eastern Europe saw crackdowns on freedoms of expression and assembly needed to call out corruption...

https://www.transparency.org/en/news/cpi-2021-eastern-europe-central-asia-democratic-hopes-growing-authoritarianism?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-28-10-2022 ​​​​​

The work of Jeremy Bentham and his thought formed the basis of utilitarianism doctrine which represents the theoretical foundation of liberalism. The doctrine of utilitarianism starts from the simple idea which considers the useful, that which serves life or happiness, the principle of all values. Pragmatic and Efficient, utilitarianism is Concrete in that it makes it possible to apply optimization theories to human actions, providing, for example, the theoretical basis for economic liberalism. Where the bet offends is in the generalization of doctrine to all values which leads to intolerable misconduct, sometimes unacceptable from the point of view of Ethics. So much so that one can allow himself to think that utilitarianism is a form of Totalitarianism at the origin of injustice, inequalities, and impostures of different kinds at different national, regional, and global scales.

Applied to science, it is deplorable to note in the field of research, scientific publication, and other associated aspects that pecuniary or other interest (usefulness) is placed ahead of scientific value. The question becomes a real downfall when the scientists themselves disregard their scientific quality, their intellectual freedom, and their curiosity for knowledge and subscribe to this mercantile approach of penny science. A shameful attitude that undermines science and scientists!

Photo: The stuffed body of Jeremy Bentham still lies in a glass cabinet at University College, London. His head is a wax replica. Abaca/World History Archive

See also:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Scientific_Integrity_Research_Ethics_and_Higher_Education_Deontology_The_Senior_Scholars_Duty

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Scientific_Integrity_on_ResearchGate

If there is no publicity and freedom of media, then public opinion research become a mechanism for the legalization of censorship and self-censorship in a society...

In two thirds of the cases, that is, 64 percent of people in Serbia who have MTS (pro-Government) as their cable television provider voted for Aleksandar Vucic in the presidential elections, while only 31 percent of the SBB cable operator users gave their votes to the old-new President of Serbia, show the results of a research conducted by the Bureau for Social Research (BIRODI) that Voice of America (VOA) had access to...

https://rs.n1info.com/english/news/birodi-vucic-his-party-got-twice-more-votes-from-mts-than-from-sbb-users/