[lbo-talk] Re: Scientistism

[andie nachgeborenen]

In my opinion, someone without the math can understand
the physics (pop biolog, etc.) only as well as a blind
person can understand painting. There's a reason you
have to put this stuff in math language to make it go.
That doeesn't mean ppopular translation out of math
isn't possible for general interest purposes. Of
course I have the bias of having made the commitmebt
to lerarn the math at great personal cost, which I
have now all forgotten -- the math, not the costs.

Most of the science studies crowd are morons.

--- Daniel Davies <d_squared_2002 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:


> 
> > From: andie nachgeborenen
> <andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com>
> 
> > These were not the science-free ignoramuses of
> today's
> > science studies crowd 
> 
> bad luck in the timing of picking this particular
> week to repeat this rather
> dull slur on sociologists of science; Harry Collins
> of Cardiff University
> recently passed a version of the Turing Test for
> physicists; he submitted
> answers to seven questions on gravity waves which
> convinced a panel of
> independent judges that he was a physicist (and that
> the physicist who also
> submitted answers wasn't).  He was able to do this
> because he's spent the last
> thirty years hanging around the gravitational waves
> community in order to carry
> out science studies on the sociology of new
> discoveries.  I suppose this falls
> under the heading of "no true Scotsman" (which it
> does; he's a Welshman).
> 
> http://www.slate.com/id/2150974/fr/rss/
> 
> It is actually incredibly interesting, because it
> confirms a prejudice of mine;
> that it is possible to understand all of this
> science stuff at the highest
> level without going through the details of how to
> calculate the equations, as
> long as you keep a clear head and are prepared to
> apply yourself.  Scientists
> aren't demigods and Master of Reality - they're just
> people who did a science
> degree.  Lots of them seem to have very little
> understanding of the underlying
> science, as opposed to the manipulation of
> particular fashionable calculations;
> there are plenty of "science-free ignoramuses"
> holding down jobs in physics
> departments, just as the economics departments are
> chock full of people who
> don't know anything about economics.
> 
> best
> dd
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 		
>
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