Specter speaks like an outsider (which maybe he is, as a journalist) who is enamored with science but doesn’t really understand how the sausage is made.

He also makes a lot of value laden statements about what is horrible, wonderful, or what we should be ashamed of. There’s nothing wrong with those judgments, but they don’t come from science.

I don’t disagree with much of what he says, but his unbridled confidence seems naive.