LETTER: The nature of science is to be progressive

In response to Jonah Goldberg’s Wednesday column, “The science of intellectual tribalism”:

It is the job of scientists and scholars of every kind to push knowledge forward and reject the traditional thinking in their fields of study. Therefore, it is the nature of science to be progressive — and this is exactly why people who are educated in the universities of the world are progressive.

You cannot have modern medicine, the MRI, the computer, the internet and men in space or robots without people who think about what is not known instead of holding on only to what is known.

Individual scientists may be conservative financially and many may be socially conservative, but none of those who are successful are intellectually conservative. Anti-intellectualism gets us nowhere and being anti-progressive gets us nowhere. If David Gelernter, Trump’s potential pick for science advisor, is anti-intellectual, then he is exactly the wrong person for the job.