This is a test about very theoritical physics. The broad outlines - the resuls - of theoretical physics and cosmology are not so hard to learn. But had Collins been met with actual data from some gravity wave detectors, of course he would have been found out instantly.
This was a test using questions of theory and experimental design all based on an "if gravity waves exist and pass a detector, what should we expect" model. Collins showed impressive general knowledge, but only of already-interpreted results. He was not asked to comment on actual observations or create any mathematical models to analyze those observations - which is what a real scientist does.
This is nothing like the Sokal spoof. This is an experiment in how people acquire the language of expertise. The language of expertise is how people persuade each other what meaning scientific results have. But that's a process which is one step removed from science. Sokal was pointing out that the difference between getting published in a humanities journal and getting published in a scientific journal. Collins can fake or make well-informed commentary on the high-level arguments in physics, but these are all based on real results from real experiments and Collins can't really participate in that process.
Boddi
On 10/6/06, ravi <gadfly at exitleft.org> wrote:
>
> Funny thing to happen even as we debate this stuff...
>
> http://platosbeard.org/archives/201
>
> Sociologist Harry Collins poses as a physicist
> By Jon Lackman - Slate Magazine
>
> In a recent experiment of his design, British sociologist Harry Collins
> asked a scientist who specializes in gravitational waves to answer seven
> questions about the physics of these waves. Collins, who has made an
> amateur study of this field for more than 30 years but has never
> actually practiced it, also answered the questions himself. Then he
> submitted both sets of answers to a panel of judges who are themselves
> gravitational-wave researchers. The judges couldn't tell the impostor
> from one of their own.
>
> [...]
>
> --ravi
>
> --
> Support something better than yourself: ;-)
> PeTA: http://www.peta.org/
> GreenPeace: http://www.greenpeace.org/
> If you have nothing better to do: http://platosbeard.org/
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