Vibe check for Aug 15
Responses by PHIL 006 students, clustered using gemma3:12b
Important
This is a test of my script for retrieving and clustering your vibe checks. The vibe checks used here were all generated with Claude.
| response | quote | question | answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colborn’s Story | |||
| 1 | “This opening chapter recounts Theo Colborn’s pioneering research on environmental pollution during the 1980s and 1990s. Colborn’s story illustrates the many beneficial ways in which values can influence research.” | The text contrasts Vavilov and Colborn’s stories - what values influenced Colborn’s research and why were they beneficial rather than harmful? | Since I don’t know Colborn’s specific story yet, I can only guess that maybe her environmental values helped her notice pollution problems that other scientists missed or motivated her to do research that protected public health. Unlike Stalin’s values, hers probably supported rather than suppressed scientific inquiry. |
| Nature of Values | |||
| 2 | values can also play very positive roles in science” and Colborn’s story “illustrates the many beneficial ways in which values can influence research | What’s the difference between values that help science and values that hurt it? How do we distinguish between good and bad value influences? | This seems like one of the main questions the book is trying to answer. Maybe harmful values are ones that suppress or distort research for political reasons, while helpful values are ones that motivate scientists to ask important questions or notice problems others miss. |
| 3 | Together, the stories of Vavilov and Colborn highlight the importance of the two main questions that we will be exploring throughout this book. First, what are the major ways in which scientific reasoning can be influenced by values? Second, how can we tell whether those influences are acceptable or not? | If values always influence science somehow, is completely objective science even possible? Or should we just focus on figuring out which value influences are okay? | I’m starting to think that completely objective science might be impossible since scientists are humans with values and interests. Maybe the goal should be transparency about what values are influencing research rather than pretending they don’t exist. |
| Science & Politics | |||
| 4 | Vavilov’s story illustrates the problems that values can cause in science. Despite his work on behalf of the Russian people, he was ultimately sent to prison because Josef Stalin…became convinced that the genetic theory that undergirded Vavilov’s work ran counter to the values of the Soviet leadership” (Elliott, p. [page number]) | How can scientists protect their work from being suppressed by political leaders who see it as threatening their values? Is there any way to make science truly independent from politics? | I think this is really difficult because scientists need funding and institutional support, which often comes from governments. Maybe the key is having diverse sources of support and international collaboration so no single political authority can completely suppress research. |
| 5 | Elliott writes about Vavilov: “His death is particularly horrifying, given that he starved to death after devoting his life’s work to providing food for his country and the world” (p. ?). | There’s something really ironic here - why did Stalin suppress the very research that could have helped solve Russia’s food problems? What does this tell us about how ideology can override practical concerns? | I think Stalin was more concerned about maintaining his political power than actually solving the food crisis. If Vavilov’s genetics contradicted Soviet ideology, then Stalin probably saw it as a threat even if it could have helped the people. |
| 6 | Stalin needed a scapegoat to blame for the failures of his collectivist agricultural program, he decided to suppress the field of genetics. | How often do political leaders use science as a scapegoat for policy failures? And what can the scientific community do to protect itself from being blamed for things outside their control? | This still happens today I think. Politicians sometimes blame scientists when policies don’t work out, even if the problem was with implementation rather than the science itself. Maybe scientists need to be better at communicating what their research can and can’t do. |
| 7 | The search for improved varieties was crucial to the welfare of the Russian people because they were suffering perennial food shortages and famines. | Why didn’t Stalin support genetic research if it could help solve the famines? What does this suggest about the relationship between scientific evidence and political decision-making? | Maybe Stalin’s ideology was more important to him than solving practical problems, or maybe he didn’t understand the science well enough to see its value. This shows how politics can interfere with using science to address real-world issues. |
| 8 | Elliott discusses how “Josef Stalin…became convinced that the genetic theory that undergirded Vavilov’s work ran counter to the values of the Soviet leadership.” | What exactly about genetics conflicted with Soviet values? And how do we prevent ideological disagreements from shutting down scientific research today? | I’m not sure exactly what the conflict was - maybe genetics seemed to contradict ideas about human equality or social change? Today we probably need stronger institutions to protect academic freedom and maybe better science communication so political leaders understand research better. |
| Vavilov’s Motivations | |||
| 9 | As a geneticist and agricultural scientist, he developed the insight that plant breeders should try to identify the geographical locations where key food crops evolved. In those regions, he suggested that scientists could find immense genetic diversity among the different crop varieties that still grew there. | Why was genetic diversity so important for crop breeding, and how does this connect to modern concerns about biodiversity? | I think genetic diversity gives breeders more options for developing crops that can survive different conditions like droughts or diseases. This probably connects to current worries about monocultures and climate change. |
| 10 | armed with his genetic insights, Vavilov set off across the world in search of seeds and samples | What motivated Vavilov to travel the world collecting seeds - was it purely scientific curiosity or concern for human welfare? Does it matter what his motivations were for the quality of his science? | I think his motivation was probably both scientific interest and wanting to help solve Russia’s food problems. The motivation might not affect whether his methods were good, but it probably influenced what questions he chose to investigate. |