“The search for knowledge, truth and a greater understanding of the world around us”
President-elect Barack Obama took a bold stand for making decisions based on science and facts rather than ideology as he introduced leading members of his science and technology team.
“The truth is that promoting science isn’t just about providing resources—it’s about protecting free and open inquiry,” President-elect Obama said. “It’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology. It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient—especially when it’s inconvenient. Because the highest purpose of science is the search for knowledge, truth and a greater understanding of the world around us. That will be my goal as President of the United States—and I could not have a better team to guide me in this work.”
President-elect Obama announced his appointment of Dr. John Holdren as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). He also announced Dr. Harold Varmus and Dr. Eric Lander as the other co-chairs of PCAST, which the President-elect said he hopes will be “a vigorous external advisory council that will shape my thinking on the scientific aspects of my policy priorities.” Addtionally, he named Dr. Jane Lubchenco as his choice to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“I am confident that if we recommit ourselves to discovery,” President-elect Obama said,” if we support science education to create the next generation of scientists and engineers right here in America; if we have the vision to believe and invest in things unseen, then we can lead the world into a new future of peace and prosperity.”
日本の政治とアメリカの政治の絶対的な差異がここにある。
サイエンスが提示する世界の真実に、政治の世界が真摯に耳を傾けること。
科学的な論理構成で政治を行なうこと。
ガンの研究者(Harold E. Varmus:the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes)とゲノムマッピングの専門家(Eric Lander )が政治スタッフに参加するオバマ政権が、世界をどのようにリードしていくのか、とても興味深い。