COWAN@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU (01/05/87)
To: kontron!cramer@TOPAZ.RUTGERS.EDU Clayton Cramer compares scientists supporting nuclear winter to scientists in Germany opposing "Jewish physics." Then he lumps the whole shebang under the evil title "politics" and likens it to the anti-SDI pledge. The analogy is flawed. German physicists who signed the pledge weren't refusing money by doing so; I assume they were supporting Government policy. The nuclear winter people weren't really refusing money either. What makes the anti-SDI pledge remarkable is that the scientists have refused a large amount of money offered to them. Is the SDI pledge a political act? Of course it is. It's a judgement that requires blending science and politics. I'd trust scientists with scientific-political judgements more than politicians! Rich ------- -------