[lbo-talk] Science wars -- a new twist

Dwayne Monroe idoru345 at yahoo.com
Fri Oct 6 16:05:17 PDT 2006


Ravi:

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.

[...]

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Oh, I understand why you're intrigued by this story but I don't think it's as mind-blowing an event as it may seem.

After all, Mr. Collins has, as the article notes, been studying the "field for more than 30 years". This makes him an expert - an amateur expert but an expert all the same. I've studied military affairs since I was a teen and have found myself able to predict - with a surprising amount of accuracy thus far - the outcomes of several armed conflicts. Recently a friend forwarded to me a copy of an email I sent to her years ago, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq. I was stunned by how closely my projections of a rapidly deteriorating situation for the US military were confirmed by events.

Now, this doesn't mean I can begin teaching at the US Army War College just as Mr. Collins' depth of knowledge about gravitational waves doesn't necessarily qualify him to set up an office at Caltech.

What it does mean however is that the practice of science (or, at the very least, the ability to master key concepts) is not beyond the capacity of people outside of the professional ranks of her various branches.

I don't find this at all surprising. The fact that it's treated as newsworthy says more about the 'scientism' (which I really think you should just start calling elitism) you've been slapping about the head these past few days than anything else I can think of at the moment.

.d.

Well sure he's a corpse but a reanimated one. Who says the dead can't be fully contributing members of society huh?

Dr. Venture ...................... http://monroelab.net/blog/



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