224 Chapter 9
‘coldintellectualism.’”^170 Kealeyis right—the Romanticmovement’s distrustof epagoge
andits practicalresult,liberatedwealthcreation,remainsfashionablethroughoutthe
presentera. As hostessfor the May 1994 televisiondocumentaryThe NobelLegacy, McGill
UniversityclassicsprofessorAnneCarsonbrazenlyspouts,“Whatan irrationalidea....
Thehappydelusionthatthereare suchthingsas facts,andtheydo not deceiveus,
underliesthe wholeprogressof scienceandchemistryto this day.” To her,thatis not a
benigndevelopment.“... I don’t believein progress,and I am skepticalof howchemistry
is contributingto my humanity.” She has evidentlyoverlookedthe importanceof chemis-
try in the developmentof the poliovaccine.“Nowthatwe’ve filledthe worldwith
Styrofoamcups,carbonmonoxide,andholesin the ozone,maybeit’s time... to stand
still andpayattentionto the realrelationbetweenour humanityandour progress.”^171
Giventhe lowopinionof self-interestedindustrialism,it comesas littlesurprisewhen
oceanographerPaulR. Gross,mathematicianNormanLevitt,and geographerMartinW.
Lewisair the prevailinginterpretation—“Onlyignoranceor duplicitypermitsthe conclu-
sionthat,in the stateof the biosphereand its physicalenvironment,all is well.”^172
TheAmericanjournalistMichaelSpecterrelatesthatin 1999he ran afoulof a U.S.
groupcallingitselfProgressivesAgainstScientism,an activistcell dedicatedto advocat-
ing vandalismandgovernmentregulations—bothformsof spoliation—to curbwhat
wouldotherwisebe unregulatedinnovationin technology.Herein this groupwe detect
the confluenceof pro-governistProgressivismand anti-scienceRomanticism.We observe
suchinfluencesin the radicalenvironmentalisteffortto employeco-terrorismor govern-
mentcontrolto destroythe geneticallymodifiedfoodsandotherbiotechnologiesem-
ployedby the agribusinesscorporationMonsanto,whichtheydecryas “Monsatan.”^173
Onememberof this environmentalistcampaign,LordPeterMelchettof the UnitedKing-
dom,actuallydescendedfroma founderof a chemicalcompany.Thatlineagedoesnot
deterhim frompronouncingon behalfof the BritishSoil Association,“We say it is timeto
stopassumingthat discoveriesonlymoveus forward.The war againstnaturehas to end.
Andwe are goingto stopit.”^174 KentA. MacDougall,a formerWallStreetJournalreporter
and U.C.Berkeleyjournalismprofessor,takesthe ideologyto anotherextreme.Youmay
recallfromBookTwothatI mentionedthatGarrettHardincomparedAsiansto a tumor
on the Earth.KentMacDougallis lessdiscriminatoryaboutethnicitythanHardin,for
MacDougallproclaimsin the academicjournalWildEarththathumanity,as such,is a
canceron the biosphere.^175 WarrenM. Hern,a medicaldoctorbasedin Boulder,Colora-
do, goeswiththatanalogyas wellin the journalsPopulation& EnvironmentandBioSci-
ence.^176 Despitehis ownsympathiesfor the environmentalmovement,NewScientistmag-
azineenvironmentalconsultantFredPearceadmitsthatthe environmentalistmovement
takesan “anti-science” positionwithrespectto its oppositionto geneticengineering,
nuclearenergy,and shalegas.^177 Oncein a while,a leadingenvironmentalistwill himself
acknowledgethathis ideologydoesnot holdscienceto be paramount.Backin the year
2000,actingas the headof Greenpeace’s UnitedKingdomchapter,StephenTindalesaid
of his ownorganization,“Greenpeacehas neverbasedits campaignssolelyon science.
Cartesiansciencestripseverythingdownto coldlogic:thereis no roomfor ethicsor
emotion.We believe,in contrast,thatthereis a moralbasisfor our defenseof the natural
world,”moralreferringto the antirationaldoctrineof self-denial.^178
Thatintegrationof anti-scienceand pro-governismdid bearone majorWesternprece-
dent—in the philosophyof Rousseau,one of the few Romanticsto espousea pogromfor
politicalchange.As TerenceKealeyparaphrasesRousseau’s argument:“... underthe
distortionsinducedby reason(whichis emotionallysterile),by capitalism(whichin-
flamesgreed)andby privateproperty(whichisolatesanddestroyssympathy)a man’s
personalitydegrades,andhe becomespsychologicallyalienated,bothfromhimselfand
fromotherpeople.His selfishnessgrowsinto a devouringmonsterof vanityand egotism,