![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Scientists, in the public imagination, are intrepid explorers. They stand at the edge of human knowledge and carve out new territory, break down barriers and rewrite the rules. Nature has no political ideology and carries no passport. Science, at its best, also espouses such cosmopolitan ideals. That data is neutral, and science is apolitical, makes for an alluring narrative. By clinging to it, the scientist appears assured, almost noble, rising above the messy and the mundane by sheer force of intellect. But reality does not conform to such convenient self-delusion. In this essay, the author argues that pretending to be above and beyond politics is by itself a political position; in adopting it, one has aligned with the state and sided with the powerful.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Yangyang Cheng
Yangyang Cheng is a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University. A member of the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, she designs next generation silicon tracking detectors and searches for dark matter. Cheng received her doctorate in physics from the University of Chicago in 2015 and her Bachelor in Science degree from the University of Science and Technology of China’s School for the Gifted Young. Her writings have appeared in Foreign Policy, MIT Technology Review, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Teen Vogue, ChinaFile, and other publications. She contributes to New America’s DigiChina initiative and has been interviewed by the New York Times, WBEZ Chicago public radio, the South China Morning Post, spektrum.de (the German edition of Scientific American), and many other media outlets.