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Science, Technology and Government.

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by deepsand

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Many discussions here have touched on the issue of Science vs Policy, with many mistaking the latter to be master of the former.

Obviously, even for those who know better than that, there is no doubt that the latter does not always well comport with the former.

It may, then, be informative to review a new Congressional Research Service Reoport for Congress, entitled "Science and Technology Policymaking: A Primer,"
which can be found at
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34454.pdf .

Note: This PDF file is approx. 455 KB in size.

33 replies

by santeewelding

After the preamble, I went straight to the Judiciary. Expanded, that alone could easily exceed the entire document.

by deepsand

Very terse post to which replied mentioned Judiciary, without particulars.

Judiciary relies heavily on "expert" witnesses who are frequently "specialists."

Absent an unbiased generalist to put the specialist's testimony into context, both the Bench and the Jury, if any, are at the mercy of the spin put on such by counsel(s).

by danlm

I seen the post, but what caught my interest was another link they had... Now I'll have to read that one too.

;o)

Dan

by deepsand

I feel your pain, as it's mine as well.

What I really need is gainful employment where my function is to do nothing except read what I like, and discuss it if I've the time and am of a mind to.

by santeewelding

Rather than run alongside trying to interview countless units of mass racing to destruction, as in the LHC, better maybe to position oneself at the place of collision, which resembles some forums, and ponder the more interesting impacts and collision products.

by danlm

Roast that sucker over my fire of interest, devour it till its nothing but bones, and then suck the bones of information clean to insure I don't miss shread of knowledge that could be gained.

Dan

by deepsand

E/M conversion results in anonymity.

Understanding the origins of the survivors of the collision(s), and deducing the identity of those ephemeral intermediaries which were their antecedents, requires viewing the original participants prior to their entering the masked ball.

by boxfiddler

ingeniously so.

Full to overflowing with particular innuendo. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

by danlm

And I have found, no matter what the party in congress... They have been pretty much factual reports. All through them are their references for verification.. I like them because of that.

Now, the kicker here. Congress will not release those reports to the public, even though they have no security rating.

I can tell you I have been reading them since before the democrats have had the majority in congress... And I have seen reports that were far from glowing for the Bush administration, even with the Republicans in control.

So I think they are pretty neutral.

Dan

by boxfiddler

If they are not released to the public?

Also, I did not mean to imply partisanship, just self-interest.

by danlm

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2008, Issue No. 40
April 22, 2008

Its a text only newsletter that links to the various pdf's. It's free.
_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

The Secrecy News Blog is at:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/subscribe.html

To UNSUBSCRIBE, go to
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/unsubscribe.html

OR email your request to saftergood@fas.org

Secrecy News is archived at:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html

Dan

by deepsand

They also publish many other government works, including those originating from within the military, works which include Field Manuals.

FSA is another invaluable source of that can suck up a great deal of your time if one is not sufficiently disciplined. You've been warned!

by deepsand

I figured that anyone so interested in real and potentially useful information would, as am I, be prone to spending too much time in the library.

God only knows how many times I've been the last person discovered in the stacks after closing time.

by santeewelding

By the by, thanks for the Federated note and the warning. I was going to similarly warn you about PhysOrg, but I decided to wait and see if your brain exploded.

Forgot about discipline, that offshoot, or harbinger, of rigor, er, vigor.

What happened to the 500+ posts of the energy thing? Did I miss something explosive? Was it yanked?

by deepsand

As for the energy thing, it's still sputtering along, spewing various noxious fumes on all.

It will eventually collapse of its own gravitational force, condense into a singularity, and eventually be reborn, a new white hole from a black one, as it has always done and must perforce do yet again.

by deepsand

Whether blessing or curse is in the eye of the beholder; and, how much free time is at his disposal.

by santeewelding

Kinda like those country places wherein you get to bootstrap nothing and everything, scrambling "God" in the doing.

Sorry about the swamp. You were venturing close, judging by your "but..."

by boxfiddler

lots of one lane roads about. But the wildlife in and around the swamps is fascinating. Additionally, I can and often do use swamp peat to amend my garden soil.

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