Monday, November 05, 2007
Booze!
I think Scott Lucas needs to stop drinking while writing his columns. Or, if he writes them sober, he needs to start.
A team of physicists on campus built a radio out of a single carbon nanotube one-ten-thousandth the size of a human hair. One of the first songs they beamed through it was, of course, "Good Vibrations." Also last week, a national newspaper announced that a team of political scientists discovered a new form of government. They called it a megolocracy, but it's extremely unstable and decays quickly into anarchy.
The first story is entirely true. The second one, not so much. Well, unless you think The Onion counts as a trustworthy source. The juxtaposition of the two raises the question: What is the relationship between science and politics? Does it? Does it really?
In contemporary society, we tend to value the first over the second. Put it this way: In every action movie you've ever seen, who saves the day? Is it the ineffective politicians, or is it the underappreciated scientist in a lab coat? It's usually the Austrian who goes on to become governor of California, actually.
I know who I want on my side when Godzilla comes knocking. The French insurance agent, if I recall correctly. It's been a while since I saw that movie, though.
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