[GA - DISCARDED] Repeal: “On Scientific Cooperation”

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Hulldom

Hulldom

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Repeal: “On Scientific Cooperation”
Category: Repeal | GA #322
Proposed by: Hulldom | Onsite Topic
Replacement: None​

General Assembly Resolution #322 “On Scientific Cooperation” (Category: Education and Creativity; Area of Effect: Educational) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.

The General Assembly,

Recognizing the noble goal of GAR#322: “On Scientific Cooperation” to promote scientific cooperation among the august member states of the World Assembly;

Believing, however, that there are several flaws with this legislation,

Finds as follows:

  1. Clause 1(a)’s reference to “any and all publicly available scientific literature”, given the lack of constraint on the word “scientific”, includes literature that fails to meet the standards of peer review and, given the lack of a catchment, pseudo-scientific literature published in journals with low evidentiary or replicability standards.

  2. Clause 1(b)’s collection of “all data relevant to it’s mandate” is so vague as to be unviable. The sheer amount of, wide variety of sources of, these data, presents a problem unavoidable given the lack of constraint on the literature collected in 1(a). Unscientific and pseudo-scientific data collection will find its way into the World Assembly Scientific Programme (WASP) archive as a result.

  3. That this resolution fails to take into account the censorship of materials given clause 1(c)’s notation that materials may not be disseminated if they are “illegal under extant national or sub national law”. States could make parts of scientific study illegal and thus prevent the dissemination of materials from the WASP regarding the scientific consensus. Thus, the failure to consider malicious states misrepresenting scientific data undermines the goals of this resolution.

  4. There is no mechanism for WASP to make critical claims regarding settled scientific fact or propagate new ideas beyond sharing them for peer review as in 1(d). Additionally, the lack of blindness in the peer review process provided, since WASP disseminates the data to all member states, raises the possibility of bias–a possibility which undermines the credibility of results obtained by WASP-facilitated peer review or data sharing.
  5. This legislation presents no mandate on member states, only facilitating their potential cooperation.

    Therefore, the General Assembly repeals GAR#322: “On Scientific Cooperation”.
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Voting Instructions:
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  • Vote Present if you are personally abstaining from this vote.
Detailed opinions with your vote are appreciated and encouraged!

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Repeal: "On Scientific Cooperation" received 12,953 votes For (86.8%) to 1,977 Against (13.2%). However, following a legality challenge while the proposal was at-vote, the proposal was found to fall afoul of the Honest Mistake rule and was thus discarded.
 
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IFV
Overview
This resolution seeks to repeal GAR#322, “On Scientific Cooperation” due a lack of precise wording in clauses 1(a) and 1(b) that tasks the World Assembly Scientific Programme (WASP) with carrying out the untenable task of cataloging any and all data "relevant to it's mandate", its failure to account for and thus prevent malicious member states from misrepresenting scientific data in contrary to established scientific consensus, the lack of a mechanism for WASP to propagate new ideas and critique established scientific consensus, and its lacking of any mandate for member states to adhere to.

Recommendation
We find that the faults presented by the author are accurate and quite serious. The imprecise language used in clauses 1(a) and 1(b) utterly ruin WASP's potential and resources by forcing it to catalog all sorts of useless, junk data. Of particular concern is the cataloging of data associated with pseudoscientific endeavors. Such cataloging provides legitimacy to such data, something that we consider to be particularly dangerous given the well-documented damage that scientific misinformation has caused across numerous nations. GAR#322's ineffectiveness in fighting misinformation is all the more accentuated by it failing to tackle the potential for member states to censor data cataloged by WASP. The overall nonbinding nature of the resolution is yet another fault that justifies this repeal.

For the above reasons, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For the General Assembly Resolution at vote, Repeal: "On Scientific Cooperation".
Our Voting Recommendation Dispatch--Please Upvote!
 
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I have withdrawn this temporarily thanks to IA graciously DMing me to inform me that he thought that the former clause 5 about 1(f) was an honest mistake. I agree with his interpretation and withdrew this—I plan to resubmit at Major without the clause.
 
This proposal has received the necessary approvals to enter the formal queue. Barring it being withdrawn or marked illegal, it will proceed to a vote at Monday’s Major Update.
 
Repeal: "On Scientific Cooperation" received 12,953 votes For (86.8%) to 1,977 Against (13.2%). However, following a legality challenge while the proposal was at-vote, the proposal was found to fall afoul of the Honest Mistake rule and was thus discarded.
 
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