Information Suppression

The recent flurry of stories concerning information suppression and punitive actions against scientists who do not conform (P. Rushton, The Scientist, Oct. 3, 1994, page 13; P. Duesberg, The Scientist, March 20, 1995, page 12) is quite disconcerting. To those who contrive to withhold from nonconformists grants or access to public debate, one should say: Please be kind to our dissidents. Anything worth doing has been started by them, and any mainstream that today dominates segments of science wa

Written byChristian Schwabe
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One could muse for quite a while whether or not the increased sensitivity concerning fairness issues represents evidence that science per se is no longer a prime objective of scientists. A dash of combative spirit has always been around, but the mean- spirited suppression by economic means (promotion, tenure), withholding of research funding, and shunning, I think, is an invention of the affluent scientific establishment of the past 30 years; ignominy was never so religious.

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