Saturday, November 21, 2009

Scientists are naïve

I have been reading/browsing/listening to a lot of stuff on science communication, and one thing that is coming through in spades is that we scientists are a bunch of rubes.

Much of the lack of respect from the policy and business community, in addition to the inattention to science by the general public, comes from the fact that we not only preach integrity, but we live by it too. It makes us "boring." To our detriment, because other communities, while mouthing integrity, do not live by it at all, and quite happily get the decision outcomes they want. It's a balance: do you want integrity, or results?

Now I certainly do not espouse abandoning integrity, but science in general should be less naïve about what will be used against us, and stop being “shocked, shocked” when it happens.

Science does not live in the real world.

7 comments:

Paul said...

Well, this will be a hard post to defend, given the public perception after ClimateGate...

Aplaceforscience said...

I don't get it! How most scientist live by integrity and no results??? I think is all the way around, scientist have more than enough integrity to make huge results, the only difference is that gov'ts don't find the results quite substantial. Therefore, it seems scientist have no integrity with the politicians which I find honestly logical. When the shadow of results appear in the immense intensity of lacking integrity; it thrives the despair of results.

Rita Franco said...

I still prefer integrity, call me a stubborn scientist. :)

Anonymous said...

I work with a large number of scientists, and while it never pays to paint with too broad a brush because there are always exceptions, you won't get any further argument from me.

Anonymous said...

Quizás, sería bueno pensar en estrategias para que las personas comunes, puedan y podamos comprender más fácilmente "el lenguaje difícil" de la ciencia y hacerlo más cercano a lo cotidiano... nuestra contribución como ciudadanos de cada nación y del mundo podría entonces ser mejor, a veces lo "aburrido" de leer un artículo científico o escuchar las condiciones climáticas, puede volverse algo casi que incomprensible para el ciudadano común, por increíble que parezca.. bueno, quería compartirte mi reflexión Sr. científico.

Unknown said...

Hi there, Paul! Gee you're hard to get a hold of! I hope this reaches you!

Abrazos,
Leslie gouffray

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Great post mate.