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from the whom-do-you-trust...-and-why? dept.
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?
(Score: 1) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday November 22 2017, @05:48PM (1 child)
The danger I see in silencing the lone contributor is when you have something considered impossible, but it is demonstrable.
If I had a dollar for every person that said the Emdrive was a waste of time and money and a scientific fraud I'd be able to single-handedly found a research institute dedicated to it. If groupthink rules the edge ideas aren't going to survive.
I'm not discounting that there is a bunch of BS at the edge, but sometimes you have some gems out there.
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Wednesday November 22 2017, @10:03PM
Thankfully random people with opinions are largely ignored and actual scientists are looking into it. So, yes, it's annoying wading through the sea of idiots but the system worked. The effect is so small it's almost unmeasurable though, so it's probably going to come out as a systematic measurement error (most likely) or an unaccounted for energy parasitism.