Scienticide

Hand-written graffiti against the vaccination of children during the COVID-19 pandemic

Scienticide means the purposeful or systematic destruction, blocking, or weakening of science, scientists, or scientific knowledge. It often happens for political, ideological, economic, religious, or cultural reasons. The word comes from scientia (Latin for "knowledge") and -cide (meaning "killing"). Scienticide stops science from being created, shared, or protected. This can happen in many ways, such as censorship, cutting science funding, controlling education, firing or punishing scientists, or promoting false science and anti-scientific ideas.

In history, some governments attacked science to protect their power. Under Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union forced scientists to follow Lysenkoism, which rejected genetics based on political beliefs. Scientists who disagreed were put in prison or killed, and real biology research was stopped for many years. In Nazi Germany, the government removed Jewish scientists and called some theories, like Einstein’s relativity, “Jewish physics.” This hurt scientific progress and destroyed many careers.

Today, scienticide can include blocking climate research, hiding disease information, or spreading fake news that makes people distrust science. Governments or industries sometimes do this to avoid regulation or criticism. Scienticide can also mean ignoring or devaluing Indigenous and non-Western knowledge. This form is sometimes called epistemicide, the killing of other ways of knowing. It happened during colonialism and still happens when only Western science is treated as valid, leaving out traditional knowledge systems. In the digital age, false information spreads easily through social media, causing real problems. For example, some people now avoid vaccines or deny climate change because of misinformation they read online.

The effects of scienticide can last a long time. It can lead to health crises, environmental damage, loss of technology, and a weaker society. Since science helps solve major problems like pandemics and global warming, it is important to protect scientific freedom, diversity, and truth. Keeping science strong is also key for democracy, development, and helping the public make informed decisions.