CONTAMINANTES
Science as Democratizer: Does the pursuit of pure science make sense in a world of scarcity and strife? With so much poverty on the planet, why spend vast sums of money on, say, the James Webb Space Telescope, due to replace the Hubble at the end of the decade and observe the first stars and galaxies in the universe; or the Terrestrial Planet Finder, whose mission is to detect other habitable worlds - discoveries that, however astounding, can bring no tangible benefits here on this barely habitable world called Earth? [...]
The scientific spirit is common to all peoples; it crosses cultures and bonds diverse elements of society, communicating an appreciation of the beauty as well as the benefits of new discoveries, the breathtaking complexity of our vast universe. Science opens the mind. Such are the intangible benefits of the Webb and Hubble telescopes and their like.
Come the revolution: Only in a few countries could a philosopher of science be seen as an enemy of the state. Abdolkarim Soroush, one of Iran's best-known intellectuals, argues that science cannot progress under totalitarian regimes. His greatest "crime" is to suggest that this is a legitimate Islamic view. After six years in exile, Soroush bravely returned to Iran