> In the last century, prominent scientists spoke out against U.S. militarism and called for the end of war. Scientists like Einstein, Linus Pauling, and the great skeptic Carl Sagan. Where are their successors? Noam Chomsky is still bashing U.S. imperialism, but he’s in his nineties. He needs help! Far from criticizing militarism, some scholars, like economist Tyler Cowen, claim war is beneficial, because it spurs innovation. That’s like arguing for the economic benefits of cancer or slavery.

The author brings up some good points, but the above attack on Tyler Cowen comes across as either bad-faith or a severe lack of critical thinking skills. You can read Cowen's article for yourself, it is linked below. Cowen never once recommended that any nation pursue war or militarism. He was merely pointing out a possible causal link between war and innovation. Which is exactly what every scientist should aim to do - find causal links, even if we wish those links didn't exist. As a reader of the article, I would hope we are wise enough to understand that even if a causal link exists, there are still many other important reasons to not pursue war.

I know this sounds nitpicky, but I only bring this up because I notice this becoming more and more frequent. People repeatedly attack and shame researchers who find facts and causal links that we wish didn't exist. This is classic shooting-the-messenger. Do we really want to live in a world where researchers are too afraid to publish any studies that yield inconvenient truths? Because we're halfway there already.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/14/upshot/the-lack-of-major-...