I am on the planning committee for the annual conference of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. We met today to plan our next conference.
Needless to say, it was weird, because we are living in weird times. Goals that used to be understood as positive, like slowing climate change, or helping poor kids to grow up to become scientists, have suddenly become political, even toxic.
At one point somebody mentioned that this year is the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country. Given the political climate, nobody was sure exactly how the AAAS should celebrate that.
I proposed a motto: “250 years. Well, it was a good run.”
People seem to like that, but I don’t think they are going to use it for the conference.