How reliable is science? (Assumption 2/7) (The limitations of science)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Thursday, April 26, 2012, 05:13 (4593 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained


> > At what point are you willing to accept basic assumptions though? Are you arguing that every paper should include a statement saying that for its findings to hold, the assumption of "methodological materialism" must hold? I'm a philosopher by hobby, but seriously, I'm not going to write every single assumption from genesis to the present just in case some poor sap might not get all my assumptions! That's the job for science journalists and 
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> We have databases for less important things, why not a database that covers scientific assumptions and or dependencies. Heck, I could even see there being some interesting research coming out of that as causal and even casual relationships that were previously unidentified come to light, particularly if the database was cross-discipline. Bonus points if it could build a graphical web of the connections. Double bonus points if you were able to link reference numbers to journals/papers that discussed the relationship/assumptions being made. That would be a truly powerful tool and would probably go very far in helping people become 'educated laypersons'.
> -Shouldn't surprise you, but at least in my discipline it's not uncommon at all for papers to essentially be released in draft form online, attacked and hacked by the "public" (meaning other scientists) and refined before its official publishing, typically at a conference. We WANT our papers to weather some storms. -Traditional science seems to work in the opposite manner. Craft your paper, publish it, then watch it get tanked as experts shred it. Could be our idea of "engineering" is a way to build a better paper the first time. There would be awesome benefits from just such a system... but no legislator will allocate money for something like that for quite some time. -> 
> > ...professional philosophers!!!! 
> > ...educated laypeople!!!! (Such as ourselves.) 
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> > But journalists and philosophers are the ones who need to translate the papers into lay terms. If there's a fault in regards to the layman, it's in translation. And a lack of diligence. 
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> No disagreement there, really, but it is a knife that cuts both ways. A scientist should, if relying on someone else to be their mouthpiece, speak out loudly when they are being misrepresented.
> -Yeah... assuming they even pay attention to what happens after something gets released. When I was still a biochem major, I spent a summer with a prof that would often forget small things, like combing his hair, or keeping his mouth closed long enough not to let some spittle get crusty. Sounds gross, but he knew his shit... and I got the impression that he didn't track *anything* that wasn't immediately going on in his lab. -You want an interesting specimen, watch a biochemist in his natural habitat...-> 
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> > Ah. In my work, errors are usually measured in "who made the last commit" and putting a tally mark next to the guys name. 
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> Some form of SVN programming?-I was trying for something more cartoonish, but yeah, essentially. Commits are always logged. -> 
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> > Obviously joking, but as an engineer: use the error mechanism that makes the most sense.
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> Just make sure that the mechanism and the error is well known. -Having worked on the techie side, it only matters that my team knows. The people on the other side of the curtain don't want to know *anything* other than "is it working?"-> 
> In reference to your earlier mention of public libraries and what not, sadly, not all libraries are as well equipped as the one you are using. It was not until I attended university the first time outside of my home state that I had access to a DECENT library, and it wasn't until my current University that I had access to book-loan programs.-I continuously get shocked that a city as small as mine (Omaha NE) that also happens to be pretty conservative with its public services, does things better than what I assume to be a larger town. -Still, communities are only going to provide what they can afford. And yeah, you're right, scientists do often get public grant money, your average PHD doesn't pull in huge sums and has to fight in order to keep his research program alive. Publish or perish needs to go, but reforming a system that large requires a cultural shift at the top of the scholastic world, who despite my appreciate for them--live in their own universe.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"