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> Unger says she received death threats, and that some colleagues stopped speaking to her. That is totally fucked up. I don't recall hearing about death threat

> Unger says she received death threats, and that some colleagues stopped speaking to her. That is totally fucked up. I don't recall hearing about death threats against scientists pre Internet. Maybe against some research on primates, but I'm not sure. Yet another consequence of Eternal September :( > “I have heard scientists say that if we found forest loss cooled the planet, we wouldn’t publish it.” That is also totally fucked up. But I guess that it's not that surprising. I mean, Kuhn and all.

lukeschlather 8y ago
> I don't recall hearing about death threats against scientists pre Internet. Galileo? I imagine Darwin had his fair share. And those are obviously just the most famous examples.
- mirimir 8y ago
  It was the Catholic Church that went after Galileo, not individual haters. And based on some searching, I find nothing about threats against Darwin. Indeed, it seems that he was quite the popular figure, at least in the UK. Even after he declared agnosticism. Recently, of course, Christian and Muslim haters have threatened people who support evolution.
  - lovemenot 8y ago
    I haven't heard of any threats directed against Darwin personally. If this is so, one possible reason is that he was extremely circumspect in the timing of publication, since he was well aware of its likely social and theological impact. Darwin's personal preference to not be an asshole, was one reason On the Origin took twenty years to reach publication. After publication, Darwin was fortunate to acquire celebrity bull-dogs such as Huxley, who would take up the cause and allow Darwin to continue his gentlemanly pursuits, out of the direct firing line.
    - mirimir 8y ago
      Maybe he didn't get death threats because the sorts of idiots who make death threats didn't read his stuff. And maybe because pastors were too civilized to encourage their flocks to make death threats.
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lukeschlather 8y ago

> I don't recall hearing about death threats against scientists pre Internet. Galileo? I imagine Darwin had his fair share. And those are obviously just the most famous examples.

mirimir 8y ago
It was the Catholic Church that went after Galileo, not individual haters. And based on some searching, I find nothing about threats against Darwin. Indeed, it seems that he was quite the popular figure, at least in the UK. Even after he declared agnosticism. Recently, of course, Christian and Muslim haters have threatened people who support evolution.
- lovemenot 8y ago
  I haven't heard of any threats directed against Darwin personally. If this is so, one possible reason is that he was extremely circumspect in the timing of publication, since he was well aware of its likely social and theological impact. Darwin's personal preference to not be an asshole, was one reason On the Origin took twenty years to reach publication. After publication, Darwin was fortunate to acquire celebrity bull-dogs such as Huxley, who would take up the cause and allow Darwin to continue his gentlemanly pursuits, out of the direct firing line.
  - mirimir 8y ago
    Maybe he didn't get death threats because the sorts of idiots who make death threats didn't read his stuff. And maybe because pastors were too civilized to encourage their flocks to make death threats.

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