Science is just the method by which technological advancements are achieved, it doesn’t decide the priorities. That privilege falls to capital, and by extension, capitalists.
First and foremost, priorities are set by reality.
Extending a dog’s lifespan by 60 years would be a very high demand product and could be sold for much more than what smartphones cost. If it was feasible, it would have already been done.
Flying would be a very high demand service and could be sold for much more than what a train ticket costs. If it was feasible, it would have already been done.
I appreciate you are setting up a sort of platonic ideal of what science is but I think its important to deal with the real people and processes that science is performed by and we would be doing ourselves a disservice if we fail to acknowledge how those people and processes have often worked hand in hand with capitalist and colonial projects. We need to be introspective about how those choices have influenced the science (and the methods!) that’s been done. We, as scientists, engineers and science appreciators need to do this work so we can make different and better choices.
Science is just the method by which technological advancements are achieved, it doesn’t decide the priorities. That privilege falls to capital, and by extension, capitalists.
First and foremost, priorities are set by reality.
Extending a dog’s lifespan by 60 years would be a very high demand product and could be sold for much more than what smartphones cost. If it was feasible, it would have already been done.
Flying would be a very high demand service and could be sold for much more than what a train ticket costs. If it was feasible, it would have already been done.
I appreciate you are setting up a sort of platonic ideal of what science is but I think its important to deal with the real people and processes that science is performed by and we would be doing ourselves a disservice if we fail to acknowledge how those people and processes have often worked hand in hand with capitalist and colonial projects. We need to be introspective about how those choices have influenced the science (and the methods!) that’s been done. We, as scientists, engineers and science appreciators need to do this work so we can make different and better choices.