[governance] Accountability group puts Google in same league as big oil and big tobacco

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

Agreed, Ideology of one kind or the other driving research, whether political or activist or commercial, is bound to pollute it by introducing the funder and/or researchers' personal and ideological biases into the results.

It is however a bit different from the point that Ken raised and that I agree with.  It is kind of fashionable in some circles to bash large corporations, developed countries or whoever / whatever else with the same broad brush and unthinking hatred - an uncivil approach that destroys   the other sense of civil society, a civil and respectful engagement across stakeholder groups.

Regarding this blind hatred, and the people that engage in it, with fully deserved contempt  is something over and above my reaction to individual incidents or behaviour that I may well disagree with.

--srs

> On 13-Jul-2017, at 8:32 PM, Bill Woodcock <woody at pch.net> wrote:
> 
> Uh, Suresh, that’s sophistry.  It wasn’t “research” that was being funded, it was astroturfing.  Which degrades the average quality of academic work, and more importantly, destroys public trust in academic output and the scientific process.  Which is why this is just as bad as oil and tobacco, even if the thing being sold is less tangible.  The long-term effect is to undermine rationality.

-------------- next part --------------
To unsubscribe from this list, click here: http://lists.igcaucus.org/sympa/auto_signoff/governance/tapani.tarvainen%40effi.org