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As much as I hate that sceintific papers don't give good introductions to the public, specialists do have their values. An educated, intelligent reader has limi
by east2west 12y ago
As much as I hate that sceintific papers don't give good introductions to the public, specialists do have their values. An educated, intelligent reader has limits when it comes to frontline research. It is like asking someone flying a 787 jetliner without touching an airplane before. Prior knowledge and experience are important.
What I absolutely reject is false exclusivity that some scientists hide behind. A professional statistician can spot statistical errors even if he or she never did any cancer study before. A rational person can discern the trustworth of a scientific report if enough details and background are well explained. I always find that popular press lacks a degree of healthy comptempt for specialists. It actually has improved somewhat recently. Still sometimes newspaper reports read like press release.
- MarkMc 12y agoI accept that there is some skill and training required to run an experiment - particularly with hard sciences - but generally far less than is required to design it and analyze the results. To extend your metaphor, it would be like saying that only people who design jetliners should be able to fly them.