It’s the truth though. Even owning some common laboratory glassware could get you a charge in many places these days, regardless of your intent.Obviously in jest, but still...
A Brief Word For Science
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I really marvel at the brilliance our species is capable of producing. As someone whose intelligence (or lack of) seems to manifest more in the emotional realm than the mathematical or scientific, I have a ton of respect for hard scientists. For many of us, myself included, we run around stating things with too much certainty. Probably drives the scientists, who operate in a world where everything is on a scale of uncertainty, a little crazy.
Something else that must drive the scientists crazy.... Laymen who use the word "theory" in the way they use hypothesis. Or laymen who deride scientific theories as if they were the same as an untested hypothesis.
I sincerely doubt most scientists care a whit when "laymen" misuse or misconstrue. Why would they care? I believe they are immersed in their work and, judging from the few I know, really have little knowledge of the world of nonscientific activity going on around them.
What drive me nuts are practicing Physicians!
Don't want them practicing on me. When are they going to get it right?
Don't want them practicing on me. When are they going to get it right?
mechanical engineering, it's not the same.
It's just such a shame that the bulk of scientific research has been hijacked by mainstream media.
Most of what people now call "Science" is nothing more than a big budget show of confirmation bias.
Science for the sake of the expansion of human knowledge is suppressed because it is the enemy of the status quo.
" Most people seem to think scientists are infallible, especially when many blithely publicize theories and such, unreviewed and unproven as studied fact."
Warren, some politicians act in the very same manner!
Regards,
Jay.?
Warren, some politicians act in the very same manner!
Regards,
Jay.?
Bill Nye has ruined science as a hack for media hire. The low attention span folks gobble his swill like beer at Octoberfest.
I deal with science and it’s use everyday and I’ll leave it at that.
Here’s a fun quote.
Science progresses one funeral at a time ~ Max Planck
I deal with science and it’s use everyday and I’ll leave it at that.
Here’s a fun quote.
Science progresses one funeral at a time ~ Max Planck
Former academic biochemist here.
I've been in numerous discussions where I had to bite my lip not to say "you're clueless - shut up" to a non-scientist querying me about GMOs (for example), the existence or not of a "cancer vaccine" (doesn't exist), the fact that vaccines are the single biggest contribution to saved lives in history, and several other subjects.
The fact is, the "public" nowadays are more misinformed than ever before due to the overabundance of access to information, and lack of training to critically assess, and understand what they are reading. And this is before anyone brings an agenda to the table, internet analytics on google, facebook and youtube skewing what everyone's watching/reading.
The fact of the matter is, if anyone asks the first thing I always say is "go find a PRINTED book" to get information from. Unfeasible, and nobody does it naturally, but in this day and age the printed word is likely the best bet for non-partisan information.
Scientists' issue is we can't convey all we've learnt in the space of some minutes, but for some reason everyone and their dog nowadays thinks they have a clue, while they don't.
Would you let me operate on you? Would you let me fix your car? Would you let me fly a plane or design a bridge, or represent you in court, or, or, or any other PROFESSION which takes years of study and training to do?
No, right?
I like to remember my grandma as a source of wisdom, a farmer, she knew what she knew, and also knew what she DIDN'T know. To quote Socrates "All I know is I know nothing", she was a great example of that. Knowing her fields, soil and trees, and leaving what she didn't know to those who did. One quote from her was "God gave you two eyes, two ears, and one mouth, use them accordingly".
Ultimately I don't really care anymore what others think, so I won't try to convince anyone of anything, it's all the Dunning-Kruger effect.
I've been in numerous discussions where I had to bite my lip not to say "you're clueless - shut up" to a non-scientist querying me about GMOs (for example), the existence or not of a "cancer vaccine" (doesn't exist), the fact that vaccines are the single biggest contribution to saved lives in history, and several other subjects.
The fact is, the "public" nowadays are more misinformed than ever before due to the overabundance of access to information, and lack of training to critically assess, and understand what they are reading. And this is before anyone brings an agenda to the table, internet analytics on google, facebook and youtube skewing what everyone's watching/reading.
The fact of the matter is, if anyone asks the first thing I always say is "go find a PRINTED book" to get information from. Unfeasible, and nobody does it naturally, but in this day and age the printed word is likely the best bet for non-partisan information.
Scientists' issue is we can't convey all we've learnt in the space of some minutes, but for some reason everyone and their dog nowadays thinks they have a clue, while they don't.
Would you let me operate on you? Would you let me fix your car? Would you let me fly a plane or design a bridge, or represent you in court, or, or, or any other PROFESSION which takes years of study and training to do?
No, right?
I like to remember my grandma as a source of wisdom, a farmer, she knew what she knew, and also knew what she DIDN'T know. To quote Socrates "All I know is I know nothing", she was a great example of that. Knowing her fields, soil and trees, and leaving what she didn't know to those who did. One quote from her was "God gave you two eyes, two ears, and one mouth, use them accordingly".
Ultimately I don't really care anymore what others think, so I won't try to convince anyone of anything, it's all the Dunning-Kruger effect.
As a Civil Engineer, I was hoping this conversation would remain genteel, polite and succinct, which it has. Carry on.
Back in the days when meads were the beverage of choice worldwide, no one knew about nor understood yeast. Vikings were notorious for getting a mead going by spitting in it, in the ways of their gods, which produces a vinegary drink. Some relied upon existing yeasts called "wild ferments", which were mildly better, but hard to get an ABV above 5%.
Yet the best meads were brewed by women in the more Southern regions, where they would pass along "grandma's magic spoon." One stir of the spoon, and in a few months you'd have an excellent brew, sometimes going to 12-16% ABV. They didn't know about yeast, nor that yeast could get into the pores of the wood of the spoon. They just associated the spoon with making meads. And, after generations of passing down these magic spoons, the idea of "magic wands" began.
Sometimes science lives in folklores, myths, legends. Being a metallurgist, you have to look to ancient alchemy for the beginnings of how they passed down science. Stories, Gold was king, the sun. Silver was the Queen, the moon, and copper was the whore, because she alloys with everything. They may not have understood the science, or at least those who followed the stories to learn how to smelt and work with metals didn't, but someone who sew the seeds of knowledge must have. And, these alchemical stories are imbedded in ALL religious books in some manor. Even playing cards, which became the tarot, and then poker cards have the seeds of alchemy in them. Think about how the knowledge to take a rock that just looks like a rock, and heat it, combine it with other rocks, and pull a beautiful metal like silver from it, without fully understanding what is happening.
Science influenced myths, magic, and religion, and vica versa.
Yet the best meads were brewed by women in the more Southern regions, where they would pass along "grandma's magic spoon." One stir of the spoon, and in a few months you'd have an excellent brew, sometimes going to 12-16% ABV. They didn't know about yeast, nor that yeast could get into the pores of the wood of the spoon. They just associated the spoon with making meads. And, after generations of passing down these magic spoons, the idea of "magic wands" began.
Sometimes science lives in folklores, myths, legends. Being a metallurgist, you have to look to ancient alchemy for the beginnings of how they passed down science. Stories, Gold was king, the sun. Silver was the Queen, the moon, and copper was the whore, because she alloys with everything. They may not have understood the science, or at least those who followed the stories to learn how to smelt and work with metals didn't, but someone who sew the seeds of knowledge must have. And, these alchemical stories are imbedded in ALL religious books in some manor. Even playing cards, which became the tarot, and then poker cards have the seeds of alchemy in them. Think about how the knowledge to take a rock that just looks like a rock, and heat it, combine it with other rocks, and pull a beautiful metal like silver from it, without fully understanding what is happening.
Science influenced myths, magic, and religion, and vica versa.
when the phrase "the science is settled" is used...they have a agenda
I am a biomedical researcher, sitting in a lab as I type, and preparing to give a departmental seminar this afternoon about my research. I can tell you, as an "insider," that the "quest for truth" in science is pure idealism. The arc of the career of a research scientist depends upon them ingratiating themselves to their scientific superiors, towing the line and supporting dogma. How "brilliant" you are depends entirely on how creatively and vigorously you read from the script your superiors give you. Academia is broken. If I knew then what I know now, I would have chosen a different career path. Science and the quest for truth are lofty ideals, but thousands of brilliant ideas are brought to light each day and die a quiet death.
I am curious... Do you mean on a corporate level? Like are you in a lab in a University or working for a research group, or a corporation that develops things?
I have a friend in organic chemistry for Monsanto that I see once a year that seems to express the brilliance of his work. He even developed some new way to remove smell from poop that won him some award or other. And, I know in technology, innovation is very rewarded.
I'm not sure about what form of research you mean, when you say ideas are dying quiet deaths.
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