6 ms·
You forgot about the third half of the cycle: scientists exceedingly rarely submit a correction note to tone down the hyped up claims made by the PR departments
by pacala 6y ago
You forgot about the third half of the cycle: scientists exceedingly rarely submit a correction note to tone down the hyped up claims made by the PR departments / science press. They are very good at keeping the freak out to themselves. A systemic problem, not sure how to solve for, if even there is a solution.
- astrophysician 6y agoYea right, it’s just so weird to deal with this problem as a scientist unless you do work that is regularly in the news and you have opportunities to learn how to better control what is written/said and deal with instances where the wrong message is getting out. Vast majority of scientists are doing work for an audience of themselves, other scientists and funding agencies, and are working for respect, not fame or media attention. So when a their research suddenly gets churned through this bullshit cycle, they’re really troubled but don’t necessarily know the most effective way to control the message once it gets out of their hands. It can be really unfair and stressful.