In a well attended talk at MIT, White House science advisor Arati Prabhakar discussed the sagging public confidence in science today.

“The first thing I would say is, don’t take it personally,” Prabhakar said, noting that any dip in public regard for science is less severe than the diminished public confidence in other institutions. “OK, so garbagemen now rank higher in public esteem. But despite shamelessly politicizing our profession, cancelling skeptics who turned out to be right, and justifying abominations like chopping body parts off of gender-confused teenagers, scientists are not yet despised nearly as much as used car salesmen and members of Congress.”

Dr. Arati Prabhakar is director of President Biden’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and a co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). She was the first woman to serve as Director of the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), and unlike MIT’s innumerate Chancellor Melissa Nobles, Prabhakar was actually qualified for the job.

“It’s a pity that millions of people were killed by a lab-engineered virus and premier scientific publications like Science, Nature, and Scientific America destroyed their credibility by covering up for them,” she added. “But what’s important is that federal grant money keeps flowing to esteemed STEM institutions like MIT so the administration can rake off 59% in overhead to fund their social activist boondoggles and divisive DEI programs.”

Story suggested by MIT News