I've had one intense week (given your midterms and 202 intensity, I'm sure you can relate). So thanks to the 202ers who send in posts. Here's a new one:
Hi, I still dont know how to post a story we found on the blog, but i think this is quite interesting. A nobel prize winner, now living in england claimed found the
link in dna that made black people less intelligent than white http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3067222.ece
I found a follow up story http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/10/19/uk.race/index.html
I cant believe someone with this amount of intelligence, i think his nobel prize was for his work in breaking down dna code, could make such ignorant statements.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Nobel Racist?
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2 comments:
I found the articles to be very interesting because this man has had such a prominent position for so long and now it is being taken away pending review of his comments.
I by no means agree with his statements, but I find "scientific racism" interesting. It brings up a question of objectivity in researching, which is something we discussed in class.
Perhaps he was being objective and he really found this information, or more likely it was him being subjective in his approach.
I think Watson was once also quoted as saying something along the lines of "women should be allowed to abort their babies if a screening showed they were gay or deformed," but I'm not sure of the exact words.
Yeah, this brings up a really interesting point about subjectivity in science. We always take comfort in the fact that science is empirical and objective, but in reality it's very much constrained by social values. For example, studies on homosexuality are extremely limited and very much conducted in ways designed to prove specific points about gay people. Scientific language itself is often very biased in subtle ways.
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