[Reporter’s Notebook] Politics Is Harder Than Physics... It's Time for Change

Although the signs of spring are evident, a cold wind still blows through the scientific community’s view of the 22nd National Assembly election campaign. Concerns remain about whether politics will be able to properly support science even after the general election. The analysis of each party’s pledges for the 22nd general election, released on the 2nd by the Citizens’ Coalition for Realization of Right Science and Technology Society (Gwasilyeon), a civic group related to science and technology, made these concerns even clearer.

Both ruling and opposition parties pledged to foster the semiconductor industry. However, scientists pointed out that measures for carbon neutrality in the power sector, which is essential for the semiconductor industry, were missing. They also noted the absence of efforts to optimally combine nuclear power and renewable energy. It is also noteworthy that neither the ruling nor opposition parties have presented drastic pledges to address the crisis in securing science and technology talent that could be caused by the government’s plan to increase medical school quotas by 2,000 students. Scientists infer that the issue of expanding medical school quotas will be linked to an ‘unintended side effect’ of brain drain in scientific talent.

Politics tends to be all talk. This is why scientific methods based on experimental results are difficult to integrate easily with politics. Scientists regard politicians as merely engaging in a ‘festival of good words’ without scientific analysis. If political slogans fill scientific pledges, it is not right for the future of the Republic of Korea.

The scientific community experienced an unprecedented upheaval last year with cuts to the research and development (R&D) budget. The pride of scientists who have quietly played their roles in laboratories for national development was labeled as a ‘cartel’ and targeted for dismantling. Budgets for schools and research institutions were uniformly cut without detailed calculations, and student researchers are now in a situation where even their immediate livelihood is uncertain. Would such a thing have happened if there had been experts in the National Assembly who could represent the scientific community?

A scientific community official recently met said, “Compared to other professions, it is rare to see science professionals or researchers actively working in the National Assembly.” Some scientists ran for office in this general election under the banner of recruiting talent, but this is not enough. Einstein said, “Politics is harder than physics,” but times have changed. To change unscientific politics, the logical thinking of scientists must be infused. Scientific evidence is necessary for election pledges to be realistic. Voters will want this as well.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.