Are Scientist's Afraid to Rock the Boat ?

[zapatos]

Fine, but the point is that scientists who have this attitude are indeed influenced to avoid "rocking the boat" as the thread title asks. They cower in the shadow of giants because they understand the magnitude of their work.

I don't think they are cowering at all, and would love to rock the boat if the opportunity presented. But where is your best chance to make a contribution? Investigating something new or trying to prove that Special Relativity is really a fraud? I imagine most scientists are quite practical and are not going to waste their time going against such long odds. Not out of fear of rocking the boat, but out of fear of wasting their careers.

[lemur]

I don't think they are cowering at all, and would love to rock the boat if the opportunity presented. But where is your best chance to make a contribution? Investigating something new or trying to prove that Special Relativity is really a fraud? I imagine most scientists are quite practical and are not going to waste their time going against such long odds. Not out of fear of rocking the boat, but out of fear of wasting their careers.

It's not so much about what people can prove, imo. It's how you arrive at your position vis-a-vis the shoulders you stand on. A person who has questioned and discovered validity nonetheless may have a less biased attitude toward scientific authority than someone who has learned to distinguish between what to question and what to avoid questioning on the basis of received status.

[36grit]

let's all run to left side of the boat, now every body run right! Don't worry, it wont roll over as long as everybody is on board!

 

 

[zapatos]

It's not so much about what people can prove, imo. It's how you arrive at your position vis-a-vis the shoulders you stand on. A person who has questioned and discovered validity nonetheless may have a less biased attitude toward scientific authority than someone who has learned to distinguish between what to question and what to avoid questioning on the basis of received status.

True, you may have a less biased attitude by questioning. Based on what I have seen of you, this seems to be your approach. But not questioning doesn't necessarily mean that you do have a biased attitude. As far as I can tell, I am not awed by anyone. I just feel comfortable that I (usually) recognize where things fall on BS scale - from total excrement to scientifically well supported. If I give more credence to someone who has higher status it is because they have proven themselves, not because they make my knees shake.

 

let's all run to left side of the boat, now every body run right! Don't worry, it wont roll over as long as everybody is on board!

Sorry, I missed your point.

[granpa]

I wish the op hadn't used the phrase 'rock the boat'.

 

I would never advise anyone to ever rock a boat.

 

But I get sick of the bigotry exhibited toward anyone who dares question any part of the scientific establishment.

 

Such people are invariably labeled 'crackpots' or 'mystics' (i.e. religious nuts)

[JillSwift]

I wish the op hadn't used the phrase 'rock the boat'.

 

I would never advise anyone to ever rock a boat.

 

But I get sick of the bigotry exhibited toward anyone who dares question any part of the scientific establishment.

 

Such people are invariably labeled 'crackpots' or 'mystics' (i.e. religious nuts)

No, they are NOT "inevitably" labled crackpots or mystics. It's when they have no evidence at all of their assertions that such labels are applied.

 

It's purest bigotry - in the form of guilt by association and group identification with individual behaviors - to claim otherwise.

[lemur]

True, you may have a less biased attitude by questioning. Based on what I have seen of you, this seems to be your approach. But not questioning doesn't necessarily mean that you do have a biased attitude. As far as I can tell, I am not awed by anyone. I just feel comfortable that I (usually) recognize where things fall on BS scale - from total excrement to scientifically well supported. If I give more credence to someone who has higher status it is because they have proven themselves, not because they make my knees shake.

You may be less biased than I am in favor of questioning authority to gain a more critical understanding of it. I don't mean to make it sound like I'm claiming to be 100% right and everyone else wrong. I just feel the need to point out the possibility of how scientific orthodoxy is not necessarily immune to dogmatism just because it is a rigorously anti-dogmatic approach to knowledge.

[granpa]

LOL.

[A Tripolation]

I just feel the need to point out the possibility of how scientific orthodoxy is not necessarily immune to dogmatism just because it is a rigorously anti-dogmatic approach to knowledge.

 

I agree.