Today I read with dismay how there is a move afoot to remove discussion of evolution from textbooks in India. Despite a protest by 4,000 scientists, it looks like it may go ahead.
I was reminded of Allan Bloom’s 2012 book The Closing of the American Mind. Are minds all over the world closing now? If so, isn’t it ironic that just as machine intelligence is exploding that human intelligence may be on the wane?
By the way, I don’t buy the idea that this is solely the outcome of religious revival. It would be hard to find a religion with more room for science than Hinduism and its uncountable gods, events and spirit places. Also, India still has a significant Muslim population, but there I would remind everyone that in the middle ages, up to the Renaissance, the Islamic empire was the home of most of the world’s scientists. Mohammed himself, and Jesus too, were deep and creative thinkers. Were they alive today, I suspect both of them would be close followers of the JWST telescope that is opening the deepest regions yet of the Cosmos.
I should also say that I learned of this disturbing news on the website blog Climate Dragon, published by S.W. Lawrence. Despite over 800 posts to date on topics well beyond just climate, it has only 34 followers, one of them being me. Because I get almost daily fascinating scientific surprises there, I don’t understand why it doesn’t have thousands of followers. Maybe this is more evidence of a diminishing human appetite for knowledge, but I prefer to think it’s just that the giant social media sites, etc, are blocking recognition of more interesting places on the internet. Check it out – here is the full account of the events in India.
https://wordpress.com/climatedragon
Checking the link, I see that WordPress insists that you register with them to see the page, something that may be holding many WordPress sites back. I can only say that you won’t regret it if you join up.
However, here is doctor Sandy W. Lawrence’s Linked In page, which appears to include a link to his blog.
Alan Conrad 
That is amazing/sad. I’ve been following him since the day you sent me one of his posts.
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Yes, what can you say – Lawrence’s posts are one of the best things on the internet, I think.
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