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Like so many other kinds of national leadership, it occurs to me that the current US administration's restriction, removal and tainting of data (remember the pa
by a3n 9y ago
Like so many other kinds of national leadership, it occurs to me that the current US administration's restriction, removal and tainting of data (remember the panicked surge of downloads of science data after the election, and the restrictions on what words the CDC can use, and whether "climate change" can be uttered by Interior Department staff) is going to shift the center of "reliable data" outside the US to places like Canada and Europe. Heck, even China can decide to play in that space.
And so the US reduces its voice and influence in yet another area. One example will be that citations of US data will decline; being reminded less and less of US data, researchers and similar will tend not to look for it in the first place.
- kevin_nisbet 9y agoWhile I agree with you, I just wanted to point out, that Canada isn't clean here either. While I don't really remember all the details, the previous government had a particularly poor reputation for destroying records and attempting to control the narrative on government funded research. Quick reference article: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/4w578d/the-harper-government-has-trashed-and-burned-environmental-books-and-documents https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/4w578d/the-harper-governm...
- a3n 9y agoI remember that too. While the triggering example was the Canadian site, my concerns are more about America's loss of credibility relative to the world, not Canada specifically. I also understand that the science censorship issues in Canada have begun to swing back the other way, but I'm not sure if that's because of their current administration or if it began before that.