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market-farming - Re: scientific method

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Subject: Market Farming

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  • From: M McGuire <Michael.McGuire AT uvi.edu>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: scientific method
  • Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2002 17:29:32 -0700



To put it in perspective what percentage of scientists are you suggesting
are dishonest people?

The demonizing that I see on this list does not seem to be a positive and
uplifting kind of discourse. Wouldn't it be better to specify something that
you honestly is wrong rather than take the brush and paint so widely as has
been done?

To me the conversation is less about demonising and more about maintaining a healthy skepticism and critical thinking. Scientists yearn for the truth, they may dedicate their lives to it, but in the end they are susceptible to errors, fantasies, and wishful thinking just like the rest of us. Having been involved in research for nearly ten years, it is my impression that the results that are trumpeted may be justified, or may not, or may simply be one perspective out of many others that can contribute to our understanding. Researchers are generally ensconced in just one perspective, the culmination of their life's work, perhaps, but there are always things left out and other avenues to explore--that's the nature of science.

They had better be or whatever you are doing is doomed to failure. What
organizations are you suggesting are only there for making money and do not
provide any goods or services of value?

Have you read a newspaper within the last year? Corporations, like people, come in all stripes and colors. I would suggest it is naive to think that special interests do not try to fashion "science" and "hard data" to serve their purposes, just as they are tempted by creative accounting. Science is routinely pressed into the service of a narrow agenda by corporations, environmentalists, and government agencies, to name a few--like you said, this goes not just for companies, but many other organisations as well. Corporations get singled out more often than others because they have lots of money, hence power, and power all too often leads to abuse. All of this may not be uplifting, but closing our eyes does not make it go away. To keep an open mind, while not surrendering a healthy skepticism, can open many, many doors in life--I don't think that is a negative or depressing sentiment. It is a delicate balance and no one does it perfectly.






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