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Thanks, Science!

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johnson1010
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Re: Thanks, Science!

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"a dysfunctional climate"

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/scien ... eform.html
No one claims that science was ever free of misconduct or bad research. Indeed, the scientific method itself is intended to overcome mistakes and misdeeds. When scientists make a new discovery, others review the research skeptically before it is published. And once it is, the scientific community can try to replicate the results to see if they hold up.
Submission of bad papers, even the publishing of bad papers is certain to happen. Since the whole enterprise is dependant on humans cross checking one another it will not be uncommon for faulty research to go unchallenged for some good amount of time. Others will need to be chasing that same research in order to cross check the one who makes the claim, that requires interest in the field and careful experimentation.

Science is a messy business because it is a human pursuit. That is why scientists are not to be trusted on their word. After all, they are just human, like any of us. Things can be exascerbated by the pressure to succeed, the competition for grant money, especially considering the small amount of dollars available in curiosity driven research. If there is no "Ipod" at the end of some experiment, it can be quite difficult to get the funding necessary.

But what we see in this article is an example of humans not following the strict discipline necessary for good science. In a perfect world people would not be tempted to ignore what their data tells them in order to affirm their pre-conceived bias. But this is not a perfect world, and that is precisely why we need peer review. To put the claims of others to the test and to see if what they say about the world is true.

Frauds will always be with us. Simple mistakes will always haunt our best efforts. These will only ever be exposed by scientific cross-reference and fact checking. We call that peer review. Our current process isn't the best there could be. There is always room for improvment, and nobody ever claimed that scientists are perfect and that is the purpose of this system.

As in history, there is a tendancy to hero worship. Scientists may be trusted, even if they advocate smoking to increase health as they did in the past, simply because somebody has called them a scientist. But there are no magic words, and simply calling someone a scientist does not imbue them with the mental riggor, and honest determination necessary to confront their deeply held, or fervently wished for biases.

The health and vitality of our scientific processes are dependant on the people who perform them and you can't blame the scientific process on these bad papers any more than you can accuse a car of being a lemon after filling the tank with sand.
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro

Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?

Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?

Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
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johnson1010
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Re: Thanks, Science!

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McRaney sums it up nicely:

We invented the scientific method because we are naturally terrible at explaining our own experiences. Without the scientific method, there is no way to know what causes simple, everyday things like thunder. Every explanation is as good as another, and if an explanation becomes culturally bound and passed down, that becomes the official explanation for millennia. Our natural tendency is to confirm our assumptions, but science tries to disconfirm our assumptions one by one until the outline of the truth begins to form. Once we realized that approach generates results, we went from horses and tobacco enemas to mapping DNA and walking on the moon in a few generations.
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro

Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?

Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?

Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
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johnson1010
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Re: Thanks, Science!

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voyager is nearing the edge of the solar system.

This video describes that long journey, and exactly what is meant by "the edge of the solar system"

http://www.wimp.com/voyagersystem/
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro

Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?

Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?

Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
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johnson1010
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Re: Thanks, Science!

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calculating the odds of alien life.

another spin on the old equation Sagan used in "cosmos".

http://www.wimp.com/alienlife/
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro

Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?

Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?

Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
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johnson1010
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Re: Thanks, Science!

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The first fully realized computer model of a lilving organism.

http://io9.com/5928218/scientists-annou ... g-organism

Models let us make predictions, and help us to better understand how things should work in the real world.

Now we've got a model of a bacterium and we can use it to get a better understanding of life.

Life is chemistry, folks.
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro

Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?

Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?

Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
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johnson1010
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:35 pm
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Location: Michigan
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Re: Thanks, Science!

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In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro

Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?

Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?

Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
User avatar
johnson1010
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Re: Thanks, Science!

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http://www.wimp.com/printedexoskeleton/

Helping the lame to move. It's a miracle!!!

http://www.wimp.com/amazingexperiments/

Water..... IN SPAAAAAAAACE!!

Thanks, Science!
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro

Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?

Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?

Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
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Cattleman
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Re: Thanks, Science!

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While we are at it, don't forget Oscar Pistorus, the South African runner who is competing in the Olympics agains able-bodied runners. I have seen videos not only of Pistorus, but others who not only walk, but run with the new generation of prosthetic legs. Many of our U.S. (and other?) Afghan and Iraq war veterans have benefitted from this technology.
Love what you do, and do what you love. Don't listen to anyone else who tells you not to do it. -Ray Bradbury

Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it. -Robert A. Heinlein
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johnson1010
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Re: Thanks, Science!

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There's Oscar, running in defiance of god's will!

and here's a pane of glass that won't die.

http://www.wimp.com/unbreakableglass/

Image

SCIENCE!
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro

Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?

Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?

Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
User avatar
johnson1010
Tenured Professor
Posts: 3564
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:35 pm
15
Location: Michigan
Has thanked: 1280 times
Been thanked: 1128 times

Re: Thanks, Science!

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here's Jupiter, sticking up for all us little planets.

http://www.wimp.com/jupiterhit/
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro

Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?

Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?

Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
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