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posted by martyb on Wednesday November 22 2017, @11:54AM   Printer-friendly
from the whom-do-you-trust...-and-why? dept.

Danger, Will Robinson!

Given that collaboration [in science] is the norm, you may be asking yourself the eternal question: Who cares? How does the image of a lone scientist hero cause any danger to me?

The problem arises when there is a debate about a scientific topic. Following this structure, debate is a necessary and encouraged part of the scientific process. This debate happens before the idea is released to anyone outside of a few scientists and, while it can become heated at times, takes place with great respect between proponents of different viewpoints.

The danger can come when scientific results are released to the public. Our society now provides a platform for anyone to comment, regardless of his or her education, experience or even knowledge of the topic at hand.

While this is an excellent method of disseminating knowledge, it can also provide a platform for any opinion—regardless of the weight of data behind it—to be equal to that released in more traditional scientific ways.

Particularly in today's largely populist climate, people are looking to see the lone scientist hero overthrow the perceived dominance of facts coming from academia.

And herein lies the problem. In this situation, the opinion of a lone commenter may be considered on equal footing with that of tens or hundreds of people who have made the subject their life's work to ensure their interpretations are correct.

Everybody is entitled to their own scientific opinion, but everybody is not entitled to their own scientific facts?


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by mhajicek on Wednesday November 22 2017, @05:16PM (3 children)

    by mhajicek (51) on Wednesday November 22 2017, @05:16PM (#600256)

    You want me to weigh the ramblings of a young Earth creationist politician the same as the work of a group of career climatologists? Sorry, no.

    --
    The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 22 2017, @08:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 22 2017, @08:33PM (#600332)

    Bradley14 is drawn that way, but he is neither a scientist nor a competent concern troll. SoylentNews need better quality Climate Deniers! Where is frojack when we need him?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 22 2017, @08:35PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 22 2017, @08:35PM (#600333)

    Young Earth creationists believe things that are demonstrably, laughably false, which is why you shouldn't believe them when they bring up such things. So it's still about evidence. Nice straw man, though.

    • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 22 2017, @10:20PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 22 2017, @10:20PM (#600384)
      And where is the evidence that supports climate change denialism? I think that when you ask real climate scientists what they think of what passes for evidence for that, they find it demonstrably, laughably false.