super-structure

Science is a way of governing, not just something to be governed. Science offers a methodology and philosophy rooted in evidence, kept in check by persistent inquiry, and bounded by the constraints of a self-critical and rigorous method. Science is a lens through which we can and should visualize and solve complex problems, organize government and multilateral bodies, establish international alliances, inspire national pride, restore positive feelings about America around the globe, embolden democracy, and ultimately, lead the world. More than anything, what this lens offers the next administration is a limitless capacity to handle all that comes its way, no matter how complex or unanticipated.

 
Sen. Obama’s embrace of transparency and evidence-based decision-making, his intelligence and curiosity echo this new way of looking at the world. And that is what we should be weighing in the voting booth.

There are many realms of human philosophy, but the scientific method of inquiry is the process which rules them all. We need leaders who can observe, theorize, reason, and act¹ on what happens in the world around them.

1. Perhaps this is a good place to point out that it was a Arab/Persian who first laid down the tenants of what we call the Scientific Method. So, I guess Sen. Obama having some "Arab in him" might be to our benefit, huh?↵

From the NY Times (emphasis added by me):

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded Monday to three European scientists who had discovered viruses behind two devastating illnesses, AIDS and cervical cancer.
The other half of the $1.4 million award will go to a German physician-scientist, Dr. Harald zur Hausen, 72, for his discovery of H.P.V., or the human papilloma virus. Dr. zur Hausen of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg “went against current dogma” by postulating that the virus caused cervical cancer, said the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, which selects the medical winners of the prize.
 
His discovery led to the development of two vaccines against cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women. An estimated 250,000 women die of cervical cancer each year, mostly in poor countries.
 
Of the more than 100 human papilloma viruses now known, about 40 infect the genital tract and 15 of them put women at high risk for cervical cancer. But in a vast majority of cases, the body’s immune system clears H.P.V. before the viruses cause harm. It is chronic infection that is dangerous.

H.P.V. viruses account for more than 5 percent of all cancers worldwide.

We so often talk in vague terms about medical breakthroughs, like the mythical ‘cure for cancer’ — as though there were only one kind of cancer and some magic bullet that would end it. Cancer comes in many different forms and is caused by a wide array of factors. Dr. zur Hausen is brilliant for finding a cause no one gave much credence to and even more brilliant for following through on his research.

Though there is no one cure for cancer, here is a man who found a cause which led to a cure for one kind of deadly disease. In approximately 25 years, his research went from a "unpromising" idea to a real vaccine that stands a good chance of wiping out over 5% of cancers worldwide in the next couple of generations.

This was such an amazing and wonderful discovery — and further evidence that science’s best moments are when we discover something completely unexpected and counter-intuitive. A well-deserved honor and one that will save many, many lives.