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If you take the view that government is needed to protect people's rights (you know, "to secure these rights governments are instituted among men") as opposed t
by gcp 15y ago
If you take the view that government is needed to protect people's rights (you know, "to secure these rights governments are instituted among men") as opposed to providing people with solutions for their problems - then the question becomes easy.
False dichotomy.
Of course, the government would always have a lot of purely technical questions where scientific training would allow one to decide them efficiently - but these always would be secondary roles and rarely need to be elected, but rather properly hired, which can be done by any decent manager.
If politicians were people who give difficult problems to a team of scientists to allow them to come up with the best solutions, and then choose from the equally good ones based on the underlying philosophical principles they stand for, then no, we wouldn't need scientists in the government.
Failing that, I'll take the group who at least in principle deals with new problems through a better method than guesswork or trial and error.
- smsm42 15y agoHow do you think science is made? Guesswork, trial and error are inherent instruments of the science - it's called "hypothesis" and "experiment". Only in the case of politics and economics an experiment may cost lives and wrong hypothesis may lead to millions losing their livelihoods and their very lives. I'd rather prefer them doing it with the lab mice than myself. And the dichotomy is very real - governmental redistribution and social engineering is very different thing from defending people's rights. You can claim the government could do both - though practice suggests it is often contradictory as redistribution and social engineering involves coercion - but it is still very different things and very different approaches. If one subscribes to the "rights" approach, than asking to elect more scientists is the same as asking to elect more plumbers - one would recognize plumbers are extremely helpful in their area of expertise, but what it has to do with the elections?