{"id":339094,"date":"2017-04-24T01:25:21","date_gmt":"2017-04-23T17:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1480092"},"modified":"2017-04-24T01:25:21","modified_gmt":"2017-04-23T17:25:21","slug":"why-tech-workers-showed-up-to-march-for-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/why-tech-workers-showed-up-to-march-for-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Why tech workers showed up to March for Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Science itself may be non-partisan. But the\u00a0March for Science<\/a>\u00a0this weekend simply couldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

Demonstrators turned out in an estimated 600 cities around the world to rally for science and its role in policy-making, many tech workers among them. The march was organized after the Trump administration proposed and began to implement\u00a0steep budget cuts to federal\u00a0science agencies<\/a>\u00a0in the US, notably the\u00a0Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0mix of politicians, scientists, celebs and tech startup founders spoke at the rallies across the US, including\u00a0Rep. Suzan DelBene<\/a>,\u00a0Bill Nye the Science Guy<\/a>,\u00a0Rheaply Inc.\u00a0CEO and cofounder Garry Cooper<\/a>,\u00a0Big Bang Theory actress Mayim Biyalik, \u201cCrazy Ex-Girlfriend\u201d actress Rachel Bloom, and Baratunde Thurston<\/a>, comedian, writer and\u00a0cofounder of Cultivated Wit.<\/a><\/p>\n

In San Francisco, droves of researchers and educators showed up from the area\u2019s major universities, hospitals, tech firms and non-profits. Some sported a pink, knitted hat that looked like a human brain, an answer to the \u201cpussy hats\u201d affiliated with the Women\u2019s \u00a0March on Washington.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Demonstrators at the 2017 March for Science in San Francisco.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In a\u00a0March for Science mission statement<\/a>, organizers said their event was meant to be non-partisan,\u00a0and a\u00a0\u201ccelebration of science\u201d that could help bridge the \u201cdivide between the scientific community and the public.\u201d A\u00a0Washington Post OpEd predicted that a non-partisan event would be nearly\u00a0impossible to deliver.<\/a><\/p>\n

Truly, there was no way organizers could block anti-Trump demonstrators. Trump\u00a0has, over the years,\u00a0confused weather with climate,<\/a>\u00a0accused the CDC of \u201cbringing ebola to the US,<\/a>\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0suggested wind farms should be \u201coutlawed,\u201d because they are \u201cdisgusting looking<\/a>\u201d to him. He\u2019s seen as anything but pro-science.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A sign at the 2017 March for Science in San Francisco.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Still, some conservatives showed up at the rallies. One group marching in several cities, (even liberal-dominated\u00a0San Francisco) brought\u00a0signs calling for more\u00a0science education to sway people to a conservative, anti-abortion point of view.<\/p>\n

Despite their\u00a0inclusion,\u00a0the marches were\u00a0seen as leftist. Many\u00a0engineers and other tech workers at the San Francisco March for Science\u00a0declined to discuss their participation on the record, citing uncertainty about employers\u2019 press policies and\u00a0a belief that science should be non-partisan.<\/p>\n

However, many also\u00a0sported logos from and confirmed they worked for recognizable tech brands including: 23andMe, Prothena, IBM, SpaceX, Salesforce, Slack, UCSF and others.\u00a0Some\u00a0felt more free to discuss their reasons for marching.<\/p>\n

Rex Animal Health<\/a> founder and CEO\u00a0Amado Guloy said without scientists\u2019\u00a0original research there is, essentially, no tech industry. Rex Animal Health<\/a> makes affordable health testing kits for livestock farmers and software to track and manage bovine health.\u00a0Guloy\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cEverything in tech today from our smartphones to the cloud servers that run the apps and services\u00a0we now take for granted like Uber or Yelp are here because of science. It was scientists working together with fundamental research in signal processing, and so on, who came up with those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A sign at the 2017 March for Science in San Francisco.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Another engineer in the San Francisco march was Andy Frazer, who works for Synopsys<\/a>, the\u00a0electronic design automation company in Mountain View, Calif. \u00a0He said, \u201cPeople are trying to send a message to the executive branch of the government that science is more important than a political tool\u2026Without investments in science,\u00a0engineering doesn\u2019t happen. All these developments that we want to improve our food supply, energy and medicine will stop or slow down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frazer noted that engineers,\u00a0who typically started out studying science in school and feel brethren to scientists,\u00a0are\u00a0increasingly\u00a0concerned that the US government\u00a0under the Trump administration\u00a0would cut budgets for agencies\u00a0like\u00a0NASA and NOAA. Following\u00a0the sweeping cuts at the EPA and other agencies he said, \u201cYou just don\u2019t know what could happen, even if you think\u00a0a particular project or office\u00a0is untouchable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Executive Director of the Mentor Capital Network<\/a>, an accelerator that invests in for-profit, for-good tech startups, Ian T. Fisk, said\u00a0that\u00a0tech investors and entrepreneurs should work hard to\u00a0cultivate a pro-science culture in the U.S. no matter their political affiliations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A sign at the 2017 March for Science in San Francisco.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBaseline research that can be successfully and affordably commercialized comes from universities and hospitals that have some form of US government support, grants, tax breaks, or something. And people who get computer science degrees or PhD\u2019s are getting\u00a0them at universities that also have government support. \u00a0When that goes away, so does the talent,\u201d Fisk said.<\/p>\n

A computational biologist and postdoctoral scholar at UC Berkeley, Shannon McCurdy\u00a0said that after the march, she is hoping the\u00a0tech industry\u00a0will show support for science\u00a0in material ways. \u201cIt\u2019s important to show that we value using the scientific method in everyday life and to advance knowledge. But some practical things that the tech community can do to support science are to devote funding towards programs that get kids engaged in and practicing science. And to keep using science in their products, while\u00a0creating jobs for\u00a0scientists outside of academia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Featured Image: Lora Kolodny\/TechCrunch.com<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Science itself may be non-partisan. But the\u00a0March for Science\u00a0this weekend simply couldn’t be. Demonstrators turned out in an estimated 600 cities around the world to rally for science and its role in policy-making, many tech workers among them. The march was organized after the Trump administration proposed and began to implement\u00a0steep budget cuts to federal\u00a0science agencies\u00a0in the… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

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