2 ms·
I heartily recommend people check out "The Heretics" by Will Storr. The book points out, amongst other insights, the tendency of scientists to react irrational
by randomsearch 14y ago
I heartily recommend people check out "The Heretics" by Will Storr.
The book points out, amongst other insights, the tendency of scientists to react irrationally to alternative medicine and other such phenomena. Whilst the scientific community is usually right on such things, we (I'm a scientist) do have a tendency to be very dismissive and even contemptuous of people who believe in alternative therapies (or religion, or a whole host of subjects that contradict scientific thinking).
Seems scientists can be as dogmatic as their opponents. Thought-provoking stuff.
- mattgreenrocks 14y agoNo one is immune to dogma. All our beliefs eventually trace back to some foundation, including the belief that logic is the only fount of truth. The question is whether we can be comfortable with that, or we have to project our own insecurities about it onto others. Can we tolerate the unbelief of other people, and treat them well? Or do we need everyone to be exactly like us? A lot of the screeds on the Internet reek of this tribalism. It's utterly tiring to read.
- illuminate 14y agoFalse equivalencies aren't particularly convincing, though. Discussing flaws in thinking is much preferable to saying "some scientists can be dogmatic!" yes, of course? That doesn't make non-evidence based medicine useful.