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>If you're a vaccine developer or someone working on genetically modified crops, you'll get pushback from Democrats. Pick your poison. hi, former vaccine scien

>If you're a vaccine developer or someone working on genetically modified crops, you'll get pushback from Democrats. Pick your poison. hi, former vaccine scientist here: there was never any pushback from democrats that i ever heard of, and i can say with authority that nobody would pick republican any percentage of the time for any purpose. i'm not even exaggerating. scientists are liberals. that's all.

hueving 10y ago
>i'm not even exaggerating. scientists are liberals. >that's all. You're wrong. You just don't hear from the conservatives because it's become acceptable to be borderline militant about political views that aren't liberal enough in universities. The disconnect is mind boggling. I had several tenured professors on my Facebook feed ranting about how everyone who would consider not voting for Hillary was a racist, sexist, and a fascist. Is it really a big surprise that people with conservative view points don't speak up in research groups? In particular people shooting for tenure would be committing career suicide to admit conservative political leanings.
- cryoshon 10y ago
  i've spent more time in biotech industry than in academia, as is true of many of my scientist coworkers. even in industry, they're all (all) liberals. maybe even moreso than in academia, really. even the high up ones. even the runts of the litter. even the foreigners; even the white males. scientists are liberals... and capable of having a polite and objective discussion with those who aren't.
  - hueving 10y ago
    No they aren't. If you think they are liberals you are either stupid or naive. Someone who thinks an 'entire' non political industry is filled with a single political viewpoint is not capable of an objective discussion because people are clearly hiding it from him/her. I've met many people in biotech startups that are not 'liberals' when it comes to economic policy. They joined explicitly to make something that helps humanity while making them rich at the same time. They were explicitly against government intervention in health care research and believed private industry was better at finding viable solutions to problems. That's antithetical to the standard liberal viewpoint in the US. If you don't think there are people like that, it's because the crowd you are with is hostile to people with dissenting political views. It's not because biotech is a magical statistical anomaly that operates on the principles of capitalism while being filled purely with liberals.
    - epistasis 10y ago
      Liberals and capitalists are a hugely overlapping group! I meet very few liberals who aren't supportive of free markets. I guess you can find a few in biotech that are against government funding health care research, but they are few and far between. There are also a few that are against regulation, but more as its implemented rather than the idea of it.

hueving 10y ago

>i'm not even exaggerating. scientists are liberals. >that's all. You're wrong. You just don't hear from the conservatives because it's become acceptable to be borderline militant about political views that aren't liberal enough in universities. The disconnect is mind boggling. I had several tenured professors on my Facebook feed ranting about how everyone who would consider not voting for Hillary was a racist, sexist, and a fascist. Is it really a big surprise that people with conservative view points don't speak up in research groups? In particular people shooting for tenure would be committing career suicide to admit conservative political leanings.

cryoshon 10y ago
i've spent more time in biotech industry than in academia, as is true of many of my scientist coworkers. even in industry, they're all (all) liberals. maybe even moreso than in academia, really. even the high up ones. even the runts of the litter. even the foreigners; even the white males. scientists are liberals... and capable of having a polite and objective discussion with those who aren't.
- hueving 10y ago
  No they aren't. If you think they are liberals you are either stupid or naive. Someone who thinks an 'entire' non political industry is filled with a single political viewpoint is not capable of an objective discussion because people are clearly hiding it from him/her. I've met many people in biotech startups that are not 'liberals' when it comes to economic policy. They joined explicitly to make something that helps humanity while making them rich at the same time. They were explicitly against government intervention in health care research and believed private industry was better at finding viable solutions to problems. That's antithetical to the standard liberal viewpoint in the US. If you don't think there are people like that, it's because the crowd you are with is hostile to people with dissenting political views. It's not because biotech is a magical statistical anomaly that operates on the principles of capitalism while being filled purely with liberals.
  - epistasis 10y ago
    Liberals and capitalists are a hugely overlapping group! I meet very few liberals who aren't supportive of free markets. I guess you can find a few in biotech that are against government funding health care research, but they are few and far between. There are also a few that are against regulation, but more as its implemented rather than the idea of it.