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July 4, 2008
Happy Fourth of July
Posted by Derek
This, at least, I have observed in forty-five years: that there are men who search for it [truth], whatever it is, wherever it may lie, patiently, honestly, with due humility, and that there are other men who battle endlessly to put it down, even though they don't know what it is. To the first class belong the scientists, the experimenters, the men of curiosity. To the second belong politicians, bishops, professors, mullahs, tin pot messiahs, frauds and exploiters of all sorts - in brief, the men of authority. . .All I find there is a vast enmity to the free functioning of the spirit of man. There may be, for all I know, some truth there, but it is truth made into whips, rolled into bitter pills. . .
I find myself out of sympathy with such men. I shall keep on challenging them until the last galoot's ashore.
- H. L. Mencken, "Off the Grand Banks", 1925
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1. satan on July 4, 2008 6:02 PM writes...
Maybe the second group list has to be updated with scientists turned administrators, special interest groups, environmentalists, activists, feminists, lawyers, MBAs and sophists of all kinds.
Permalink to Comment2. TX Raven on July 5, 2008 6:47 AM writes...
Satan,
I totally support the first line item in your statement.
Indeed, I believe that's the 600 pound gorilla in the drug discovery room.
The "ego" that plays such an important part motivating an upcoming scientist to get better as a scientist becomes their Achilles heel when they become supervisors and forget that their role has changed. Their huge egos become their worst enemies. They force political rather than scientific decisions down the throats of the people they supervise instead of letting them make their own decisions.
IMHO the debacle of our industry is not scientific in nature, but it rather reflects a character flaw in our leaders. To fix this, improving the science is not the bottle neck, but rather improving the people factors which send down the drain the best scientific efforts.
Happy 4th!
Permalink to Comment3. retread on July 5, 2008 8:03 AM writes...
My mother went to Goucher College in Baltimore in the 20's when Mencken was writing for the Baltimore Sun. She and her friends lived for his columns.
Mencken liked to drink and hated the prohibitionists. One semi-quote (which I can't source or quote exactly)
"The humble swineherd will drive us all into his pen." Burkha's anyone?
Permalink to Comment4. milkshake on July 5, 2008 11:41 PM writes...
I guess its all about passing on one's genes or sumthing.
You know, the cheats, the frauds, the shysters and demagogs, the pompous fools and bullies - they are all just imperfect human beings and they, too, want to be loved, admired and understood. And they too will be good, deep down.
When all is said and done, when the fight is lost (or won) and the life itself is gone.
Permalink to Comment5. Fries with That? on July 6, 2008 1:56 PM writes...
Good managers are the ones who know how to handle reality and have enough confidence in their team to not scapegoat individuals when things don't turn out the way everyone had hoped.
Nothing is so tedious as having to defend a result that is showing the "wrong" outcome. One can spend an eternity in conference rooms and behind closed doors pointing fingers at people, pipets, buffers, the phase of the moon, the passage of the cells, etc only to repeat the experiment several times more and still show the magic bullet that would make top management millions is not so magic after all.
Permalink to Comment6. HelicalZz on July 7, 2008 8:14 AM writes...
And just for fun on the topic (the 4th, not the quote which was a good one).
The Chemistry of Fireworks
http://chemistry.about.com/od/fireworkspyrotechnics/a/fireworkcolors.htm
Zz
Permalink to Comment7. Kent G. Budge on July 7, 2008 1:48 PM writes...
I have been too long in the scientific community to be so naively trustful of them as Mencken appears to be.
Scientists are also human, and so they are also sometimes corrupt, venal, or weak.
And there is the occasional politician, bishop, or so forth who is *not* corrupt, venal, or weak.
Humility becomes any of us.
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