Peter Ridd recently wrote an excellent article for SPECTATOR AUSTRALIA
A Shift from Science to Sentiment
In the realm of scientific research and discovery, the Australian Academy of Science (AAS) once stood as a beacon of rigorous inquiry and evidence-based conclusions. However, a recent article from the Spectator Australia paints a rather different picture of the institution, suggesting it has veered off the path of objective science and into the murky waters of woke ideology.
“The Australian Academy of Science (AAS) recently released a report Reef Futures Roundtable, which is ostensibly about the doomed Great Barrier Reef. However, the report only demonstrates that the AAS, Australia’s peak science body, has become not just unscientific, but anti-scientific.”
Selective Reporting and Omissions
The AAS report on the Great Barrier Reef, rather than presenting a comprehensive and balanced view, seems to cherry-pick data to fit a predetermined narrative. The glaring omission of UNESCO’s declaration that the reef is not endangered and the latest statistics showing the reef at peak coral levels raises eyebrows.
“The AAS report predictably concluded that the Great Barrier Reef could already be ‘irreversibly’ damaged. The fact that UNESCO has just declared it not endangered did not rate a mention, and neither did the latest two years of statistics showing the reef is at record high coral levels.”
A Lack of Quantitative Analysis
For an institution that once prided itself on rigorous scientific methodology, the AAS report’s lack of quantitative data is both surprising and concerning. The report’s recommendations, such as ‘solar radiation management’ and ‘rubble stabilisation’, seem to be based more on wishful thinking than practical feasibility.
“The problem with this completely unanalytical approach is seen in the ‘interventions’ it recommends to fix the reef. Their impracticality is breathtaking.”
The Woke Overtones
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the AAS report is its overtly woke tone. The emphasis on gender identification and Indigenous representation, while important in certain contexts, seems misplaced in a scientific report. The prioritization of identity politics over hard data is a clear departure from the AAS’s traditional approach.
“The unscientific nature of the AAS report is largely a result of its anti-scientific approach. The report is actually a parody of wokeness and romantic mythology.”
The Real Threat: Abandonment of Scientific Rigor
The Spectator’s article highlights a concerning trend in modern scientific institutions: the gradual shift from evidence-based research to ideologically driven narratives. The AAS’s focus on gender and race statistics, at the expense of genuine scientific data, is a testament to this shift.
“The AAS ascribes such importance to facts and figures on gender and race, but not to scientific facts. This demonstrates it is anti-science.”
In Conclusion
The Australian Academy of Science, once a revered institution, appears to be losing its way. The prioritization of woke ideology over rigorous scientific inquiry is not only a disservice to the scientific community but also to the general public that relies on such institutions for unbiased, evidence-based information. The Spectator’s article serves as a timely reminder of the importance of maintaining scientific integrity and the dangers of allowing ideology to cloud objective research.
“I have been saying for some time that many of our science institutions have become totally untrustworthy. By its wilful abandonment of quantitative analysis, the AAS has destroyed its reputation as a source of useful scientific advice. The media loves a bad news story – they should focus on what has happened to a once-esteemed organisation.
“The Australian Academy of Science is now a joke.”
Does the AAS have an official / affirmative statement on AGW? If so, they would need to state that the GBR is endangered in order to eliminate the cognitive dissonance of holding two mutually exclusive views of the world.
Of course, I’m no expert on this, just a lowly engineer, who took Psych-101 in order to meet my dear alma mater’s requirement that I become ‘well rounded’.
As I’ve aged, I have become ‘well rounded’ without having Psych-101.
Seriously, this report on the Australian Academy of Science is another in a long list of groups that are contributing to the maddening crowd phenomena. Newspapers and magazines have also grasped this lack of credibility like Linus’ blanket.
 
“As I’ve aged, I have become ‘well rounded’ “
Good to know you are keeping in shape! 😉
Forget six pack abs…I’ve got Kegger Abs
These associations are all now just political activism / movement fronts.
Best relegate everything they say to the pile of general bullshit that infests the social media sites.
A bit late to notice. That’s why it has got to the stage where even the uneducated can spot it, yet it still gets published.
I knew 25 years ago they were corrupted. Is anyone reading this honestly believing any of the lies put out by this pack of politically driven f**ks? Really?
It’s not just Australia.
No, it’s not just Austrailia. Every scientific organization in the Western world has been corrupted by the human-caused climate change narrative.
And then, on top of that, they inject the divisive, leftwing WOKE agenda into the mix.
None of them have any credibility with me.
It’s pretty amazing just how dumb some smart people can be at times. Seeing what you want/expect to see, overrides intelligence.
Note: that building with the wonky windows in the background of the “Shine Dome”, is not actually part of the Academy of Science.
IIRC, it is residential apartments on the opposite side of Edinburgh Ave.
(been a while since I was in Canberra, maybe a local can verify.)
I’ll fix the feature image. Thanks.
Revised
chuckle.
There are actually 2 main buildings to the AAS. The other one is an older style 2 story building , would be somewhere to the left of this image, I think.
As I said, been a while since I was in Canberra..
… and I have no intention of re-visiting !
Here it is in Google Maps
https://www.google.com/maps/@-35.2840953,149.1231599,18z/data=!3m1!1e3
The apts are south and the 2 story building 2 is NE (indeed left in the photo)
Schopenhauer’s —-ennui is one of humanity basic traits. With science and technology humanity have addressed most of the problems that faced our specie including a critical period when we were almost wiped out. The advances in science and technology was brought about by our capability to harness energy from human energy then to animals, then rivers and waterfalls and lately fossil fuels. As ennui sits in, it only natural the target of our boredom and hence the iconoclastic behavior is directed to the very essence of the progress of our civilization –and that is fossil fuel. This is not a recent cultural trend. The concept of noble savage have been around for more than a few centuries. The noble savage, that hypothetical resident of the garden of Eden free all the chains and comfort of our modern society especially those brought about by fossil fuels. How nice to get back to the lifestyle of our half naked ancestors forgetting the uncertain food supply, diseases, competing and other challenges our ancestors have to face everyday and today is being minimized because of utilization of carbon deposits. I hate to say fossil fuels because almost 20 per cent of the oil and petroleum extracted are used for petrochemicals including the glue used by the protesters.
Decarbonization— is just the psychological manifestation of ennui and the need to self destruct. After all, are we humans not made of carbon compounds? Decarbonization is just unexplained concept of misanthropic era or looking aback further in geologic history our misanthropic epoch.
Maybe in a few million years from now when a new specie will control the earth without continuity or knowledge from our own specie, the new dominant specie will come to study the extinction of the human race that once ruled the planet to a very thin layer of extensive usage of fossil fuel, then an abrupt end when the residues of fossil fuel was completely absent and simultaneously the disappearance of the human race. Yes this was a time of very successful decarbonization including the elimination of carbon built humans.
The AAS actually has come late to the party. This from ‘news and outreach’ of the American Mathematical Society re one of their Grant’s you can apply for:
“They also provide safe spaces for mathematicians of various identities to network with colleagues, share their research, and advocate for equity.”
The world is rife with this stuff. Apologizing for being in STEM (actually it should be SEM, Technology IS Engineering). Thats another story of corruption
Don’t forget STEAM – the attempt by th Art Students to appear relevant
It’s even worse here in New Zealand…it’s now frequently referred to as STEAM, science technology arts!! and mathematics. So it includes everyone so nobody feels left out or discriminated against.
A woke joke.
How is racism or gender identity involved in assessing the health of the GBR?
Sounds like those coral go at it all kinds of ways, so gender fluidity is the key.
The four modes of reproduction vary by species of coral and are: (1) hermaphrodism & spawning reproduction (2) gonochorism & spawning reproduction; (3) hermaphrodism & brooding reproduction ; and (4) gonochorism & brooding reproduction. Here are more details:
LGBT corals?
Didn’t you know they have identified polyps that did not want to be classed as coral…… or something like that 🙂
This seems like a complete over exaggeration of the contents of the report. Take for example:
“ The emphasis on gender identification and Indigenous representation, while important in certain contexts, seems misplaced in a scientific report.”
Now firstly this is not a scientific report it is an account of three roundtable discussions held by the AAS. And if you are hold discussions in order to provide advice to the government then it is reasonable to state who was present. So in Appendix A of the report there is one paragraph that states the gender and ethnicity of the participants. One paragraph out of a report that totals 49 pages is not an “emphasis”.
Similarly the claim about “recommendations, such as ‘solar radiation management’”
is wrong. The report does not make recommendations but rather “Water-focused interventions
listed by participants”. And out of the 22 different interventions that were mentioned the only one that is discussed by the spectator article is the one that sounds the most unfeasible. And again the solar radiation management is only mentioned one in 49 pages. It is discussed more by Peter Ridd than by the roundtable participants.
Izaak, preposterous is preposterous, no matter how few times a proposition is put forward.
” ‘solar radiation management”
Lol.
“So in Appendix A of the report there is one paragraph that states the gender and ethnicity of the participants.”
Nobody needs to know the gender and ethnicity of the participants. It’s utterly irrelevant other than in a woke setting.
Brings a whole new option to the PEMDAS acronym doesn’t it?
Please Excuse my Daft Australian Scientist
This is how civilisations die. The fish rots from the head down. When the vital institutions have been irrevocably corrupted it is only a matter of time when society collapses.
If you have grandchildren prepare them for a life in medieval conditions.
Yes, put look on the bright side – we are one of the few generations who can watch, in slow, but accelerating, motion the destruction of democratic culture at the hands of our glorious uber-lords. Brave New World indeed!
‘but’ not ‘put’:sorry!
40 years ago I started breeding a few horses, I figured we might need them when we ran out of oil in a few years time.
I was a bit premature, Now I had better start breeding again, we will definately need them when we are no longer allowed to use oil products & fuel.