[MD] S/O and Morality

[Steve Peterson]

Hi Platt, Jorge,


Platt:
> Pirsig spends some time describing the influence of celebrities
> on society, calling it " ,,, an organizing force of the whole  
> social level
> of evolution." (Lila, 20).  Because politics is essentially a  
> social level
> phenomenon, celebrity influence is to be expected. While scientists  
> have
> little public celebrity influence compared to Oprah, they play a  
> central
> role behind the scenes in such politically-charged matters as  
> economics,
> energy, and national defense. Not so behind-the-scenes is the current
> politics of "global warming" whose advocates constantly refer to
> "scientific consensus" as if that somehow constitutes absolute proof.

Steve:
In the MOQ, the test for truth includes logical coherence and  
consistence with experience. In MOQ understanding I don't think  
"absolute proof" is ever a reasonable expectation. I also have never  
heard anyone say that they have absolute proof of global warming and  
I don't see how the immorality of social control over intellect  
applies here.

However, I did just hear about such a situation concerning global  
warming and the Bush administration's attempts to suppress NASA  
scientists from talking about it publically on NPR.

Please see...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17926941

Would you agree that the Bush administration behaved immorally in  
this case according to the MOQ?

Regards,
Steve