5 ms·

ESR is a climate scientist too?! Is there anything he isn't an expert on? swoon

DonHopkins 11y ago
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond During the Climategate fiasco, Raymond's ability to read other peoples' source code (or at least his honesty about it) was called into question when he was caught quote-mining analysis software written by the CRU researchers, presenting a commented-out section of source code used for analyzing counterfactuals as evidence of deliberate data manipulation. When confronted with the fact that scientists as a general rule are scrupulously honest, Raymond claimed it was a case of an "error cascade," a concept that makes sense in computer science and other places where all data goes through a single potential failure point, but in areas where outside data and multiple lines of evidence are used for verification, doesn't entirely make sense. (He was curiously silent when all the researchers involved were exonerated of scientific misconduct.) "My favorite part of the "many eyes" argument is how few bugs were found by the two eyes of Eric (the originator of the statement). All the many eyes are apparently attached to a lot of hands that type lots of words about many eyes, and never actually audit code." -Theo De Raadt http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=129261032213320 http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=129261032213320
- ikeboy 11y ago
  "When confronted with the fact that scientists as a general rule are scrupulously honest" citation needed
  - caseysoftware 11y ago
    Here are some citations showing the exact opposite. Believe it or not, scientists are humans and have biases, are occasionally bad actors, and sometimes just need to get that grant. http://publicationethics.org/news/cope-statement-inappropriate-manipulation-peer-review-processes http://publicationethics.org/news/cope-statement-inappropria... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1182327/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1182327/ - "Why Most Published Research Findings Are False" http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2960696-1.pdf http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736%... - Editor in Chief of the Lancet talking about about upwards of half of biomed studies are faked or over-estimated
    - nitrogen 11y ago
      The second and third links are for medical research. Anything similar for climatology?
- johnchristopher 11y ago
  > when he was caught quote-mining analysis software written by the CRU researchers As in 'building a graph of who quotes who ?' What's wrong with that ?
  - philh 11y ago
    I think that means: looking through the software to find something, anything, that could be used to make the researchers look bad.
    - andyjohnson0 11y ago
      It looks like the origin of the use of the term "quote mining" is an article [1] on ScienceBlogs. I think your interpretation of the term is in agreement with it, in this case. [1] http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/12/01/quote-mining-code/ http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/12/01/quote-mining-code...
      - johnchristopher 11y ago
        Thanks to both of you.
Ygg2 11y ago
Apparently he is expert on conspiracy theories: > Most of the environmental movement is composed of innocent Gaianists, but not all of it. There’s a hard core that’s sort of a zombie remnant of Soviet psyops.
- duncan_bayne 11y ago
  I don't know about Australia, but that's certainly true of New Zealand. A large number of Communists and their hangers-on decamped for the Green movement with the fall of the Soviet Union.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond During the Climategate fiasco, Raymond's ability to read other peoples' source code (or at least his honesty about it) was called into question when he was caught quote-mining analysis software written by the CRU researchers, presenting a commented-out section of source code used for analyzing counterfactuals as evidence of deliberate data manipulation. When confronted with the fact that scientists as a general rule are scrupulously honest, Raymond claimed it was a case of an "error cascade," a concept that makes sense in computer science and other places where all data goes through a single potential failure point, but in areas where outside data and multiple lines of evidence are used for verification, doesn't entirely make sense. (He was curiously silent when all the researchers involved were exonerated of scientific misconduct.) "My favorite part of the "many eyes" argument is how few bugs were found by the two eyes of Eric (the originator of the statement). All the many eyes are apparently attached to a lot of hands that type lots of words about many eyes, and never actually audit code." -Theo De Raadt http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=129261032213320 http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=129261032213320

ikeboy 11y ago
"When confronted with the fact that scientists as a general rule are scrupulously honest" citation needed
- caseysoftware 11y ago
  Here are some citations showing the exact opposite. Believe it or not, scientists are humans and have biases, are occasionally bad actors, and sometimes just need to get that grant. http://publicationethics.org/news/cope-statement-inappropriate-manipulation-peer-review-processes http://publicationethics.org/news/cope-statement-inappropria... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1182327/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1182327/ - "Why Most Published Research Findings Are False" http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2960696-1.pdf http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736%... - Editor in Chief of the Lancet talking about about upwards of half of biomed studies are faked or over-estimated
  - nitrogen 11y ago
    The second and third links are for medical research. Anything similar for climatology?
johnchristopher 11y ago
> when he was caught quote-mining analysis software written by the CRU researchers As in 'building a graph of who quotes who ?' What's wrong with that ?
- philh 11y ago
  I think that means: looking through the software to find something, anything, that could be used to make the researchers look bad.
  - andyjohnson0 11y ago
    It looks like the origin of the use of the term "quote mining" is an article [1] on ScienceBlogs. I think your interpretation of the term is in agreement with it, in this case. [1] http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/12/01/quote-mining-code/ http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/12/01/quote-mining-code...
    - johnchristopher 11y ago
      Thanks to both of you.

Ygg2 11y ago

Apparently he is expert on conspiracy theories: > Most of the environmental movement is composed of innocent Gaianists, but not all of it. There’s a hard core that’s sort of a zombie remnant of Soviet psyops.

duncan_bayne 11y ago
I don't know about Australia, but that's certainly true of New Zealand. A large number of Communists and their hangers-on decamped for the Green movement with the fall of the Soviet Union.