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"Social science". The term science has been appropriated by so many pseudosciences that it has lost any meaning. Because real science has such a good reputation

by qubax 8y ago

"Social science". The term science has been appropriated by so many pseudosciences that it has lost any meaning. Because real science has such a good reputation, all the academic frauds have decided to link their field to science to enhance their own reputation. There is political "science", legal "science", economics, etc. Here is richard feynmann's poignant take on the matter. BTW, it has gotten way worse since feynmann's interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWr39Q9vBgo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWr39Q9vBgo

mhuffman 8y ago
Also watching a youtube video on Javascript makes you a "Software Engineer". Bit of a slap to what an actual engineer (in any concentration) has to go through to get a degree.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
7402 8y ago
See also "Harary's Law" <https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/06/26/not-science/> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/06/26/not-science/>, which says that any field that has the word “science” in its name is guaranteed thereby not to be a science.
- ausbah 8y ago
  Computer science isn't a real science?
  - 7402 8y ago
    "I've never liked the term "computer science." The main reason I don't like it is that there's no such thing. Computer science is a grab bag of tenuously related areas thrown together by an accident of history, like Yugoslavia. At one end you have people who are really mathematicians, but call what they're doing computer science so they can get DARPA grants. In the middle you have people working on something like the natural history of computers-- studying the behavior of algorithms for routing data through networks, for example. And then at the other extreme you have the hackers, who are trying to write interesting software, and for whom computers are just a medium of expression, as concrete is for architects or paint for painters. It's as if mathematicians, physicists, and architects all had to be in the same department." Paul Graham http://www.paulgraham.com/hp.html http://www.paulgraham.com/hp.html
  - qubax 8y ago
    It isn't a science period. Computer science is mathematics, not science. Alonzo Church and Alan Turing ( the fathers of computer science ) were mathematicians. Algorithms is a mathematical/logical concept.
    - nightcracker 8y ago
      Theoretical computer science isn't science, it's maths, just like theoretical physics. But there are plenty of empirical studies in computer science that are certainly science.
      - qubax 8y ago
        > Theoretical computer science isn't science, it's maths, just like theoretical physics. Yes. Theoretical physics is theoretical. But physics is not. Computer science is purely theoretical. It's math. Adding a theoretical designation to computer science is being redundant. > But there are plenty of empirical studies in computer science that are certainly science. Plenty of "empirical studies" that you failed to name one? There are engineering tests for computers and algorithms. But there isn't a "science". What natural law is postulated within computer science? You can use computer "science" like any other math to do science, but it isn't itself a science. It's a mathematical tool.
- bocklund 8y ago
  Materials science?

by qubax 8y ago

mhuffman 8y ago

Also watching a youtube video on Javascript makes you a "Software Engineer". Bit of a slap to what an actual engineer (in any concentration) has to go through to get a degree.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

7402 8y ago

See also "Harary's Law" <https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/06/26/not-science/> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/06/26/not-science/>, which says that any field that has the word “science” in its name is guaranteed thereby not to be a science.

ausbah 8y ago
Computer science isn't a real science?
- 7402 8y ago
  "I've never liked the term "computer science." The main reason I don't like it is that there's no such thing. Computer science is a grab bag of tenuously related areas thrown together by an accident of history, like Yugoslavia. At one end you have people who are really mathematicians, but call what they're doing computer science so they can get DARPA grants. In the middle you have people working on something like the natural history of computers-- studying the behavior of algorithms for routing data through networks, for example. And then at the other extreme you have the hackers, who are trying to write interesting software, and for whom computers are just a medium of expression, as concrete is for architects or paint for painters. It's as if mathematicians, physicists, and architects all had to be in the same department." Paul Graham http://www.paulgraham.com/hp.html http://www.paulgraham.com/hp.html
- qubax 8y ago
  It isn't a science period. Computer science is mathematics, not science. Alonzo Church and Alan Turing ( the fathers of computer science ) were mathematicians. Algorithms is a mathematical/logical concept.
  - nightcracker 8y ago
    Theoretical computer science isn't science, it's maths, just like theoretical physics. But there are plenty of empirical studies in computer science that are certainly science.
    - qubax 8y ago
      > Theoretical computer science isn't science, it's maths, just like theoretical physics. Yes. Theoretical physics is theoretical. But physics is not. Computer science is purely theoretical. It's math. Adding a theoretical designation to computer science is being redundant. > But there are plenty of empirical studies in computer science that are certainly science. Plenty of "empirical studies" that you failed to name one? There are engineering tests for computers and algorithms. But there isn't a "science". What natural law is postulated within computer science? You can use computer "science" like any other math to do science, but it isn't itself a science. It's a mathematical tool.
bocklund 8y ago
Materials science?