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Ridicule is one of the more extreme tools scientists use in that social process to reach consensus about which hypotheses are plausible. It is also a very sini
by kls 6y ago
Ridicule is one of the more extreme tools scientists use in that social process to reach consensus about which hypotheses are plausible.
It is also a very sinister and discrediting tool. As an example the CRU employed this tactic and set an entire area of scientific research back due to the optics of scientific politics. It can cause the tainted smell of agenda, and that is never good for enlightening people.
- munificent 6y ago> It is also a very sinister and discrediting tool. Agreed, but self-aggrandizement, manipulation, and outright fraud are also tools in the toolbox and if you don't have strong enough defensive tools, you are open to attacks from those. Obviously, they can be misapplied. Humans are not perfect. But without powerful social tools like ridicule and shunning, science becomes essentially a honeypot for charlatans like Andrew Wakefield.