Let others bang on about Trump; I’ve passed my judgment and have nothing to say about the loon. My brief this morning, as it is so often (sorry!) is New Zealand, which I see as the country of the world most captured by woke ideology (in this case, what we call DEI). In NZ, this takes the form of holding everything indigenous as sacred, and any criticism of such things cannot and will not be tolerated within the country. (I am safe in America.) New Zealand may be a model of what will happen in countries like the US and UK, so we should pay attention.
What really burns my onions in when this kind of capture affects science, so that schoolkids—all the way up to college—are taught that science is not only compatible with the local “way of knowing” (Mātauranga Māori, or MM), but almost coequal, despite the fact that MM is a composite of empirical trial-and-error knowledge, spirituality, religion, myth and legend, and morality.
Today’s example, sent to me by yet another anonymous Kiwi (not the same one as yesterday!) puts the lie to the fact that this kind of capture is trivial and should be ignored. There are actually two articles, both from a government geological agency, GNS Science.
GNS Science is, according to Wikipedia,
. . . .a New Zealand Crown Research Institute. It focuses on geology, geophysics (including seismology and volcanology), and nuclear science (particularly ion-beam technologies, isotope science and carbon dating).
GNS Science was known as the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (IGNS) from 1992 to 2005. Originally part of the New Zealand Government’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), it was established as an independent organisation when the Crown Research Institutes were set up in 1992.
As well as undertaking basic research, and operating the national geological hazards monitoring network (GeoNet) and the National Isotope Centre (NIC), GNS Science contracts its services to various private groups (notably energy companies) both in New Zealand and overseas, as well as to central and local government agencies, to provide scientific advice and information.
It’s analogous to the U.S. Geological Survey.
After informing us that New Zealand is home to many minerals and metals (which are “not rocks”), and that these minerals and metals have many different uses, the page segues into spirituality and religion, which occupies fully half the page. Here you go:
Mātauranga Māori and minerals
Over hundreds of years, through interaction with and adaptation to the environment, Māori have developed a deep understanding and knowledge of minerals.
Māori believe that each rock and mineral type emerges from the Earth with its own story, its own whakapapa (genealogy) relating to its origin – hei koha tū, hei kura huna a Papa.
According to Māori tradition (pūrākau), Pūtoto, the god of magma, constantly seeks outward paths towards the Earth’s surface. On his upward journey, Pūtoto leaves many deposits — koha (gifts) for the guardians of the Earth’s bedrock and crust. Through the natural processes of heating, compression, solidification, weathering and erosion, Pūtoto’s deposits generate new varieties of stones, rocks, sand and minerals.
Pounamu (also known as jade or greenstone) is one of New Zealand’s most iconic mineral material. Pounamu is the Māori collective term for the semi-precious stone scientifically referred to as nephrite (kawakawa, kahurangi, inanga) or semi-nephrite. Ngāi Tahu are the kaitiaki (guardians) of pounamu and have a desire for it to be managed under the principle of ‘Tiakina he tino taonga Pounamu mō tātou, ā, mo kā uri ā muri ake nei’ (Care for the precious treasure Pounamu for all of us and our children who follow us). GNS Science provides scientific research and information to assist Ngāi Tahu with achieving these aspirations for now and for the benefit of future generations.
Well, I’m prepared to believe that the Māori know what uses metals and minerals have, but of course without modern science they don’t know how to make them into compounds or even the chemical composition of these substances. The geological origin of minerals, as recounted above, comes not from indigenous “ways of knowing” but also from modern science. What distresses me is that the bit above mixes geology with legend. That isn’t science but anthropology—or even religion. Seriously, are the things that traditional knowledge tells us of any use in a geology institute, or is it simply a form of virtue signaling? (They are, of course, of some use in anthropology or sociology.)
As the reader who sent this to me remarked, “They’re trying to be both scientists and not at the same time!”
I have no idea whether the next article has anything to do with diluting geology with religion, but it’s an indication of what’s happening to science in New Zealand. Click to read:
The bad news:
GNS Science is proposing to axe dozens of jobs – the latest in a rolling series of shake-ups that have rocked the public and science sectors.
The Crown Research Institute has begun consulting staff on its cost-cutting proposals, which would disestablish 103 positions, of which one-quarter were vacant.
While 77 staff were affected by the plans, GNS was also proposing to establish 37 new roles, which it said would help the institute to “address its challenges and rise to its opportunities”.
“The change process anticipates these new positions will offer redeployment opportunities for some of our impacted staff,” GNS said in a statement.
The agency said it’d been focused on operating with fiscal prudence, seeking cost savings where possible and looking hard at any discretionary spending.
“Now, considering the size of our workforce alongside other cost-saving measures is a difficult but necessary step on a longer journey to financial sustainability,” it said.
“We are now encouraging staff to engage and provide feedback on the issues we face and our change proposals.”
It wasn’t yet clear how some of the agency’s vital functions – such as monitoring natural hazards or climate change research – might be affected.
Now I’m sure that New Zealand, a country of immense geological interest (it sits atop two tectonic plates) is full of excellent science-oriented geologists. I wonder what they think when their own governmental organization says stuff like this:
Ngāi Tahu are the kaitiaki (guardians) of pounamu and have a desire for it to be managed under the principle of ‘Tiakina he tino taonga Pounamu mō tātou, ā, mo kā uri ā muri ake nei’ (Care for the precious treasure Pounamu for all of us and our children who follow us). GNS Science provides scientific research and information to assist Ngāi Tahu with achieving these aspirations for now and for the benefit of future generations.
Is that the job of geologists?
On another page, you can see the “Framework of GNS”, described as “MAHIA Framework – the values that guide our work at GNS Science”. These articles always have colorful diagrams for those who need pictures.
Anyone ever see an Ouroboros?
That’s an Ouroboros at the bottom.
I don’t think so. The GNS logo at the bottom looks to me like a planet with 2 perpendicular rings. No snake that I can see.
And for wokish purposes, Ouroboros is a European mythical creature, not a Maori one; maybe they would use a ‘taniwha’.
[Sorry if this is a dup; the edit function was acting up.]
It’s the same esoteric thing – a head chasing tail.
Sorry, I still don’t get it.
The arrows going counterclockwise
The logo is stylised electrons spinning around an atom. The name of the Institute is Geological & Nuclear Sciences. They do a lot of stuff like radiocarbon dating, radiotracer tests and isotope dating. The second part is played down as ill-informed people get paranoia about the n word.
I have mentioned before, but recommend Fallen Angels by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn. Written in the early 90s, it takes place in a not too distant future where an ice age has begun and, at the same time, positive attitudes toward Science are waning and woo has been adopted broadly by governments.
Madness and irretrievably condescending. “Those wee magical forest ewoks…” stuff. Were I Maori I’d be utterly ashamed my culture was being used in this way.
Again, who PAYS for this nonsense? Somebody is apportioning the bucks here. (In the educational area is was their idiot PM’s woke mother, apparently).
Never let activists near the levers of power.
———————————–
Not only the tectonic plates thing PCCE mentions but as a result of that NZ has a pretty active and exciting geology, expressed in its landscape. HA!! Growing up I thought it made Australia’s flat sandy chunk look …. well…a bit dull, like the Aussie landscape was bought at a bargain box store vs. NZs finely hewed dramatic curves and mountains.
D.A.
NYC
Hmm. Indigenous peoples surely had ideas about how minerals formed, and they certainly used minerals, as did all ancient peoples. But they’ve contributed very little to today’s scientific understanding of how materials behave in the lower crust and mantle, how volcanism takes place, how minerals actually form in magmas, how … how anything really happens. The verbiage above, describing minerals according to Māori tradition, add’s nothing but confusion.
Indigenous “knowledge” is local. Scientific knowledge is worldwide. Dropping the gods and embracing the experiment turns “knowledge” into knowledge. The powers that be in New Zealand seemed determined to drop the experiment and embrace the gods. Ya can’t tell the progressives from the reactionaries anymore.
I hope you will give me pardon if this sounds too dismissive, but New Zealand is a tiny collection of scenic islands in the middle of a big ocean and is inconsequential when it comes to anything except for making really good wine. Oh, and the short time that Jacinda Ardern showed the world how to handle a pandemic. If it wants to stray from the path of hard science and embrace soft woo, its citizens will have to stop the silliness or live with it.
… and rugby. They are quite good at rugby (I’ve never tasted New Zealand wine).
You have to add that Jacinda Arden showed the world how to handle a pandemic on an isolated group of small islands sequestered away from the rest of the world with no land borders with any other country. Loading and unloading of cargo ships and aircraft could be done without allowing any contact between foreign crew and locals. And those foreign suppliers and customers kept their economies open enough to provide cut-off NZ-ers with the necessities of life.
But, yes I do like their Sauvignon Blancs, and their lamb chops. (Not together, of course…)
They play cricket, the only civilized sport* in the world. And I want them to continue playing cricket. The coach of the England cricket team, Brendon McCullum, is a New Zealander. That, by itself, is an absolutely vital contribution to the working of the world: now I enjoy watching England, even when they lose.
They have All Blacks, as noted above. They can dance too.
They produced Sir Richard Hadlee, Martin Crowe, Roy Kerr, Vaughan Jones, Ernest Rutherford, and the fat guy who played in A Beautiful Mind (related to Martin?); maybe even Matt Visser.
They have Kohia. Never eaten it. Never shall. But they have it.
* Standards are dropping, but there is hope. It’s still more civilized than soccer.
… and Sir Edmund Hillary.
And Kiri Te Kanawa. I forgot all about her 🙂
Beautiful Mind = Russel Crowe. He is Martin and Jeff Crowes cousin
Hmmm….
Ernst Rutherford? Pretty insignificant figure in science for sure
William Pickering? Pretty insignificant figure in US Space programs
Sir Edmund Hilary? Inconsequential figure in mountaineering
Maurice Wilkins? Pretty insignificant figure in science
As we say in NZ when we hear crap, Yeah, Nah Bro.
NZ is a tiny country – all the pretty important figures I have named above emerged from a country with populations ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 million people. So we may be small but we produced people who do pretty well. Unfortunately that is about to decline significantly because of the penetration of our education system over the last 25 years by woke crap as discuss in the article above.
And Jacinda Ardern is no exemplar of anything except a PR machine, a bought and paid Media coupled with a heavy handed authoritarian streak. Her government has foisted woke deep into our public service, indebted the country and spark racial division like I have never seen in my near 60 years as a kiwi. The traditional Maori lore that this article criticises has been pushed forward under her Government in a huge way.
Speak little of NZ politics when you do not live here and know what the heck is happening would be my friendly advice
Trev – Rutherford was significant enough to win the Nobel Prize and have an element named after him. Not many people have that recognition.
Indeed. All those I named were important figures in science and technology.
It always amuses and frustrates me how NZ is ignored for anything but the All Blacks.
Its probably because to make a name in major fields at the world level they have to leave NZ and pursue advanced studies and careers offshore…
Hopefully this degree of Woke insanity will never become this dominant in the USA, but be careful who you vote for in the next Presidential election. Examine the records and past statements of all the candidates carefully and objectively. It could happen here.
I would like to thank Jerry for continuing to bring these things to wider attention. I teach science in high shcool here in NZ, and what is happening is appalling. If you don’t get with the program you have to be very careful – your job is at risk. Fortunately I am close to retirement.
It’s all about equality of outcomes rather than opportunity. Imagine if this logic was applied to the Olympics! I could enter for the 100m sprint starting at the 90m mark 🙂
TBH, this doesn’t seem anything like the worst example of the sort of rubbish we see here all the time, and the insertion of the stuff about Pūtoto sounds more like an excess of woke zeal by whoever wrote the article than anything emanating from the scientists at GNS, or from Ngāi Tahu, owners of the rights to pounamu (greenstone) as a result of a treaty settlement.
https://Ngāitahu.iwi.nz/ngai-tahu/creation-stories/the-settlement/settlement-offer/cultural-redress/ownership-and-control/pounamu/
For overseas readers, Ngāi Tahu is the largest iwi (tribe) in the South Island. In general their spokespeople seem to me to have a great respect for science. It was five Ngāi Tahu scholars who debunked that ridiculous Antarctica paper by Wehi et al, and this article seems to me to be entirely commendable:
https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/opportunities-and-resources/publications/te-karaka/our-ultimate-duty-tk90/
For an example of the sort of work GNS are doing in conjunction with Ngāi Tahu, see here:
https://www.gns.cri.nz/news/four-new-marsden-projects-for-gns-science-2/
Here’s an idea. Divide the country in two. Remove all of the evil Western ways from one of the portions and let these MM types run everything.
On the other portion, keep the Western ways of doing things exclusively.
For that matter, do it on an even smaller scale. Set up a university that teaches based on MM exclusively for their science programs, and measure how well the graduates do in the world.
The older I get, the more I favor the method of letting these types take over what they want, especially on a limited scale, and then walking away and letting them pick up the pieces. I know it’s unrealistic but if they really think that MM is a superior philosophy, then go for it.
My grumpiest colleagues would argue that something like your experiment is being conducted at present, with several of the NZ Universities vying to out Maorify the others. We’re told in NZ that the students are demanding these changes, demanding that the universities transform from traditional universities, now, into agents of social change. But so far, the universities seem to be quite badly out of step with the NZ public. And what are arguably the most conservative of our universities (Lincoln and Canterbury) are the ones reporting high enrolments.
Once a very respected and valued institution.
Joan Wiffen, Ian Keys and Charles Fleming would be ashamed. A scientist whose retired now is quite unsettled by it all and another said if they didn’t go with the mild ones, they’d have to deal with Brian Tamaki… the coward!
Let’s talk about the social sciences for a minute. Psychology, sociology, anthropology, and the “studies” majors are all part of the social sciences. The practitioners of the “hard sciences” seem to have meekly accepted these fields as legitimate science even though half or more of psychology studies can’t be replicated and sociology has been captured by hard left activists who stick to a script that is far removed from science. So weaving indigenous knowledge into science makes perfect sense as the term science has evolved within the academy. One possible avenue to address the issue is to push back on all disciplines that call themselves science if the disciplines don’t follow the scientific method every time and if there are issues within the discipline that are too sacred to study in an unbiased way. Another approach is the one New Zealand appears to be taking. The social sciences are filled with opinions costumed as science. Adding indigenous knowledge to the mix as an addition to hard science can be understood as just another step along the social is science evolutionary road.