[extropy-chat] Kass vs. Blackburn

[Damien Broderick]

At 06:12 PM 6/8/2004 -0700, Stuart LaForge wrote:

>Leon Kass- 8 scientific research publications all
>before 1970, 88 conservative propaganda, 96 total.
>
>Elizabeth Blackburn- 109 original research
>publications, 47 scientific reviews, 156 total w/ zero
>propaganda.
>
>IMHO Leon Kass should stop trying to give people the
>impression that he is a scientist. The last time he
>did science was before the first gene was cloned in
>1972.

A sensible friend who's currently doing an PhD in bioethics comments:

===========

This is a bit silly, don't you think? Kass claims to be a
qualified medical doctor and a bioethicist, mainly the latter. I don't think
I've ever seen him hang his hat on any original scientific research that he
may have done in his youth. Why would he need to?

Conversely, it looks as if Blackburn has done nothing but substantive
science. What publications does she have in fields such as legal policy,
philosophy and bioethics, which is what the committee is *doing* after all?
As it happens, she may have played a good role on the committee in softening
its hard line, but citing her scientific publications is an odd way to
support that view.

I may not *like* Kass's bioethical writings (I don't), but this attack on
him is really clutching at straws.

=============

FWIW.

Damien Broderick