Bertrand Russell on The Impact of Science on Society

“We have seen that scientific technique increases the importance of organizations, and therefore the extent to which authority impinges upon the life of the individual. It follows that a scientific oligarchy has more power than any oligarchy could have in pre-scientific times. There is a tendency, which is inevitable unless consciously combated, for organizations to coalesce, and so to increase in size, until, ultimately, almost all become merged in the State. A scientific oligarchy, accordingly, is bound to become what is called ‘totalitarian’, that is to say, all important forms of power will become a monopoly of the State. This monolithic system has sufficient merits to be attractive to many people, but to my mind its demerits are far greater than its merits.” ~ Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society. p84. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.351235/page/n83/mode/2up

Wikitree: Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS[66] (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science and various areas of analytic philosophy, especially philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics.[67][68] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell

In other words, caveat emptor.

“Caveat emptor is a common law doctrine that places the burden on buyers to reasonably examine property before making a purchase. A buyer who fails to meet this burden is unable to recover for defects in the product that would have been discovered had this burden been met. The phrase  “caveat emptor” is Latin for “let the buyer beware.”

“Caveat emptor principles are generally still followed today; however, they are subject to exceptions. Under the doctrine of concealment, for example, a seller who withholds material information when they have a duty to disclose is not protected by caveat emptor.” https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/caveat_emptor

So called experts in climatology, “Net Zero” and corona virus and vaccines come to mind.

About budbromley

Bud is a retired life sciences executive. Bud's entrepreneurial leadership exceeded three decades. He was the senior business development, marketing and sales executive at four public corporations, each company a supplier of analytical and life sciences instrumentation, software, consumables and service. Prior to those positions, his 19 year career in Hewlett-Packard Company's Analytical Products Group included worldwide sales and marketing responsibility for Bioscience Products, Global Accounts and the International Olympic Committee, as well as international management assignments based in Japan and Latin America. Bud has visited and worked in more than 65 countries and lived and worked in 3 countries.
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2 Responses to Bertrand Russell on The Impact of Science on Society

  1. Pingback: The Media Balance Newsletter: 24/4/23 - Australian Climate Sceptics blog

  2. Pingback: AWED MEDIA BALANCED NEWS: We cover COVID to Climate, as well as Energy to Elections. - Dr. Rich Swier

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