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https://reneweconomy.com.au/abbotts-legacy-trumps-playbook-is-the-lnp-planning-science-suppression-2-0/>
"Political campaigns against scientific and intellectual communities have been
repeated throughout history, often with dire long-term consequences.
From Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution in China to recent policy choices in
democratic nations like Australia and the United States, a common pattern
emerges: science is undermined by ideology or short-sighted economic motives,
with devastating effects on technological progress and economic
competitiveness.
The Cultural Revolution stalled China’s advancement for a generation, the
Abbott government’s drastic cuts to Australia’s scientific institutions led to
talent loss and missed innovations, and Trump’s latest assault on American
science is already threatening to erode the country’s technological leadership.
The damage inflicted on research and innovation reverberates through economies
and societies, often for decades.
During China’s Cultural Revolution, the government launched an ideological
crusade that devastated the country’s intellectual and scientific
establishment. Academics and scientists were deemed politically unreliable and
targeted for persecution.
Universities were shut down, scholars and experts were publicly humiliated, and
seasoned professionals were replaced with ideologically driven loyalists who
lacked expertise. Research and higher education ground to a halt, and
established scientific knowledge was rejected if it conflicted with Maoist
doctrine. The immediate turmoil uprooted China’s knowledge base and instilled a
lasting climate of fear and anti-intellectualism.
The long-term consequences were severe. An entire generation of young people
was denied a formal education, leaving a deep gap in expertise. With
universities closed and research halted, China fell behind in technology and
productivity, experiencing years of economic stagnation and bureaucratic
paralysis as knowledgeable officials were purged.
It took decades for the country to recover. Only after reforms in the 1980s did
China begin to rebuild its scientific community. Analysts note that it took
over 30 years to overcome the intellectual stagnation caused by the Cultural
Revolution and re-emerge as a global leader in science and technology.
Those lost decades represent a significant setback in China’s technological
progress and economic development. The Cultural Revolution stands as a stark
warning of how politicized attacks on knowledge can cripple a country’s
innovation engine."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
