2 ms·
As a physics student, I feel compelled to point out, to any readers who might now go read Hossenfelders other articles, that many of her views are generally not
by t8sr 2y ago
As a physics student, I feel compelled to point out, to any readers who might now go read Hossenfelders other articles, that many of her views are generally not shared by a majority of physicists today.
She is a real physicist and not a kook, but she has been criticized for presenting her views (e.g. superdeterminism) as having much more acceptance than they actually do. She ignores and misrepresents counter-arguments regularly. Her ideas about, e.g. the explanatory power of entanglement wrt processions of moons around (IIRC) Jupiter are certainly well outside what I’d describe as regular astrophysics.
The golden standard of science communication was set by Sagan, and he always carefully pointed out when he was expressing a personal opinion, as opposed to one shared by the majority. Sabine Hossenfelder is no Sagan.
So proceed with caution. :)
- DiggyJohnson 2y agoIs there any scientist science communicators that this criticism wouldn't apply to? As far as criticism goes, I appreciate how professionally you stated this PSA. Most don't make the same points as gracefully. Best of luck with your studies.
- dinkumthinkum 2y agoNeil deGrasse Tyson; if he is working on a s riot prepared by someone else like on a TV Show, he is quite a nice communicator. But, if he does not have such a script, I would say unless he is debunking a flat earther or some actor’s mythical views of mathematics, I would just ignore it. If he talks about biology, which he often does, I would just leave.
- wileydragonfly 2y agoHe comments on fields in which he’s unqualified, and his remake of Nova had a ton of unnecessary swearing. And goes on TV and talks about politics. That’s when he lost me.
- LastTrain 2y agoSagan was political, more so than Tyson. Sometimes science intersects with politics in ways that can’t be avoided. Nuclear proliferation, land management, etc. So how can you just turn off any scientist who touches politics? Or is it just a certain kind of politics that turns you off?
- kulahan 2y agoSagan always felt respectful, while Tyson feels like he’s looking down on everyone around him. Some of his hosts have also said he’s a huge jerk. I think he would be a very bad role model for the field.
- LastTrain 2y agoHe doesn't have whatever it was that Sagan had, I think we agree on that. I don't see the "looking down on everyone" thing though.
- pitaj 2y agoThe host of PBS Space Time, Dr. Matt O'dowd, seems to be pretty unbiased.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]