At my most cynical, I am forced to conclude that there are two kinds of science today: science that is ruthlessly and transparently subordinated to (left-wing) political concerns, and science that tells us things we already know.
The journal Nature has repeatedly demonstrated the former kind of science. In July, it endorsed Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, lazily eliding her political success with the triumph of science as a whole. And in November, it solicited laments from scientists about Donald Trump’s victory. The publication was consistent throughout this blatant politicking in worrying about the decline of trust in science and scientific institutions. It was also consistent in failing to attribute this decline to these institutions themselves, whose defaulting to progressive groupthink has compromised their capacity for genuine scientific inquiry.
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