The leader for the 20 January 2018 NewScientist discusses the possibility that the end of current civilization may be coming into view, and discusses research into that possibility in the context of climate change research, in particular focusing on, in their view, the premature politicization of the science – as if science was, as Lysenko believed, capable of being politicized.
But amidst the imminent doom & gloom, I had to chortle at their conclusion:
The risk is that this new and important science is turned into yet another culture war. Before proposing divisive solutions, scientific eschatologists need to concentrate on nailing the basic facts. Otherwise, historians of the future may judge us harshly for reading the danger signs but failing to act.
Boys, if this civilization falls apart, in all probability there will never again be a respectable profession of historian – or historians to populate it. It’ll be all unstable autocraticisms, or radioactive rubble.
