Thursday - November 22, 2007
I was right about stem cells
One of the annoying things about some political
issues is that both sides are wrong, but no one ever seems to notice because
they're too tied up in partisan finger pointing that bears little resemblance to
truth. That's why it's so satisfying to see an argument reduced to zero after a
predictable but not assured development
happens.
I'm talking about stem cells.
The theory is that stem cells, which may be exploited for their property of
being able to transform into any type of differentiated cell, would be the cure
for cancer and any number of diseases. Three cheers for stem cells! The only
problem is that stem cells were only available from embryos. Thus is the
genesis of the political argument.
Some say that it's murder to do
research involving stem cells, and wanted to stop all research. Others said
that we must grow embryos to create more stem cells. Those are the two extreme
sides. Most mainstream arguments divided on federal funding of stem cells,
except that each side misrepresented the arguments in order to make political
points.
What was most annoying is that even otherwise
rational people, such as the Instapundit, have bought into the distorted
arguments, allowing those against the federal funding to be portrayed as being
against science.
Then there were
those of us who supported science, yet don't support government funding of
science. I was sure that absent government funding, the scientific
breakthroughs would occur even faster than with the government funding. That's
because the government only funds while one is looking for the breakthrough.
Private funding is much more interested in exploiting breakthroughs. It's human
nature that bureaucracies and institutions that operate by lobbying for
government support will not be so focused on results as they are focused on
doing enough to get more funding. The difference is subtle but can be dramatic,
especially the longer it takes to find the
breakthrough.
To me, both the sides of
the political argument were obviously wrong. And events have proven me right.
Absent government funding, it now appears that scientists have found a way to
make stem cells from adult skin cells. No embryos needed. I'm sure much more
research is needed to make this useful, but the possibilities are proven and
this ends the stem cell debate.
Will we
learn from this happy result? Will we learn to keep politics out of science?
Will the earth stop rotating? Of course
not.
Science will continue to be
politicized more and more, in geometric proportion to the amount of funding
provided.
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