“It’s very hard to see us fixing the climate,” Dr. Hansen said, “until we fix our democracy.”
Opinion | A Prophet of Doom Was Right About the Climate – The New York Times
We could fix our democracy by heeding the warnings of President Eisenhower about snake oil salesmen like James Hansen.
Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present — and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.
- Dwight Eisenhower January 17, 1961
