Do you feel more like a scientician or a politicist?

Compositions

Please provide answers to micalosapevo@pibinko.org by September 3, 2020.

[In the header image: who is the scientist and who is the politician? and, most of all, who owns the monocycle?]

Here is a new con(-)test by pibinko.org to start your “phase 3” (if you are in Italy…we re-open today, June 3, 2020).

Over the past fifteen years I had to deal in various ways as a scientist/technologist supporting policies and policy makers (see this page for references). In time I realized that things work reasonably well if roles are clear, and if people taking up different roles are self-aware and aware of what others are doing. A bit like in most aspects of life and business.

In the case of the relation between science and politics, to date my understanding is that science needs politics in order to have goals which are related to actual needs, while politics needs science to give substance to its ideas (or ideals). So far, so good.

Is this image taken from a scientific article or from some campaign?

In parallel, there are cases where you may find politicians who start acting as technical folks (possibly because they were doing technical work before politics…it is difficult that a real politician will want to become a scientist). More often, we see cases of scientists who want to become politicians. This is not a bad thing per se: approaching new challenges and walking out of comfort zones are always good things to do, if this doesn’t happen at the expense of others.

Chi dei due è lo scienziato, e chi il politico?

If you are a politician who started to do scientific work, or if you are a scientist who decided to start doing politics (e.g. collecting signatures for petitions, contacting local, national or “above-national” politicians, running for some election, etc.), please write to micalosapevo@pibinko.org , and we will draw a picture from these stories.

It may be that you have become a “politicist” or a “scientician”. These are interdisciplinary profiles which are important in an ever-more-complex world, and in this case we should talk. Or, it may be that you are not making the best use of your time, and of resources on which you can authorize expenses, and also in this case we should talk.

who is the scientist, and who is the politician?

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