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I AM A SCIENTIST
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I AM A SCIENTIST This post is my long and sex-free contribution to the nineteenth virtual symposium supremely organised by our supreme cult leader humorlife. Contributions to the 'Science' virtual symposium can be found at Participants List For the Nineteenth Virtual Symposium Science.  I am a scientist. Strictly speaking, I am a social scientist; and more strictly speaking, I am a political scientist. My job is to try and explain politics to students! Many scientists don’t acknowledge that social science is a science. My counter to that criticism is that, for ethical reasons, it’s very difficult for social scientists to do experiments on human beings that chemists, biologists and physicists do. For example, I cannot undertake an experiment on Donald Trump-supporting Republicans by sending them to a re-education camp to see if education changes the way people vote. For me, science is a method of understanding the world. For me, science is the only valid way of ascertaining knowledge. Since the Age of Enlightenment when science beat religion as a source of knowledge, science has been dominant in seeking to explain things. Science assumes that there is an objective reality independent of human existence, experience and perception. Scientists seek to observe, measure and explain such objective realities by systematically studying the causes and effects of what is being researched. Science is difficult. Often what one person observes is not accepted by others. For example, someone may claim to have seen a ghost but many insist that such observations are no more than figments of someone’s imagination. Often, particularly in the social sciences, it is very difficult to accurately measure what is being observed. For example, I know that rich people generally have more power than poor people but I cannot put a figure on how much more power they have. Often scientific explanations are contested. For example, research found that white immigrants on average earn significantly more than non-white immigrants in the United States. Some scholars argue that can be explained by racism in the workplace and other scholars argue that white immigrants have settled in America for longer and therefore they have had more time to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to earn money. Scientists are sometimes arrogant. They think they know everything. If scientists can explain the world then they should be able to predict and even control the future. But partial and flawed explanations lead to partial and flawed predictions, and a limited understanding of the past and present reduces the capacity of humans to shape their future. Very few people predicted that the Soviet Union would collapse in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The top chess player, Garry Kasparov, predicted its collapse but no one listened to him. More recently, very few people predicted the global banking and financial crisis. But bankers were too busy enriching themselves; regulators and politicians looked away; and economists, the so-called dismal scientists, were nowhere to be seen. Scientists sometimes need to be more modest. Science sometimes gets a bad name because of how scientific findings have been used. Science cannot be undertaken in a vacuum. Much science gets funded by those in power (eg development of nuclear weapons); and some science rarely gets funded (eg lack of investment by pharmaceutical companies to combat diseases found in poor countries). Some scientific findings get used because they benefit the rich and powerful (eg rapid developments in information and communication technologies); and some scientific findings don’t get used because they threaten the rich and powerful (eg research that finds more equal societies are happier societies). Science is both liberating and enslaving. Thanks to science we can now have sex for pleasure; but no thanks to science we are subject to increasing corporate and government surveillance. In recent times science has been increasingly challenged by many people. There are many who still deny there’s climate change even though there’s a widespread scientific consensus that our climate is changing. Vested interests within the carbon economy and politicians wanting to avoid making difficult decisions are resisting science. Some people - I call them extreme postmodernists - deny the notion of objective realty and attack science for foolishly trying to explain something that doesn't exist. If these people want to believe this, then I invite them to throw themselves off the roof of a high-rise housing block to see whether the laws of gravity are mere social constructs. Scientists may have many problems in explaining things but at least they are holding a candle in a dark room. Anti-scientists just stumble in perpetual darkness. My last point is about the debate between evolution and creationism. Scientists widely criticise creationists for letting their beliefs determine what is true, and in turn creationists often state that science itself is no more than a belief. This view that science is no more than a belief system is preposterous; science is the only source of verifiable knowledge. A few weeks ago I gave a lecture on climate change. I started my lecture by saying to the students that I’m assuming there are no climate change-deniers in the room. One student’s hand then went up. The student stated that there has been no climate change, whether man-made or not. Everyone was aghast. She admitted that she is a creationist and everything can only be explained by god. Perhaps science hasn’t yet beaten religion! This post has turned out longer and more serious than intended, so I won’t punish you even more by posing my usual questions! STOP PRESS: A while back I posted on the naming of a new polar research ship - see BOATY McBOATFACE. Scientists put the naming of the vessel to an online public vote. RRS Boaty McBoatface was the runaway winner, but scientists instead decided that the boat should be called RRS Sir David Attenborough. It seems the people are not to be trusted when it comes to science!  |
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Sorry for my bad English ! Google translator helps me! I am also a scientist, hard sciences. But I consider the social sciences as fully-fledged science. Except when using certain physical laws as such under pretexts that are statistical laws. The electrons are all identical, not humans. I had the opportunity recently to talk with witnesses of jehovah, creationists so. When I have some time I accept the discussion. I asked them what they thought, pushing many people to try to understand the rules that govern the world in which they live, and for so long. If it was ultimately a divine will that human beings are curious (I also specify that their concept of God is foreign to me). As usual, they told me that it deserved consideration and would return with people who have more arguments to discuss. I think unfortunately it's the lack of discernment that leads to all fanaticism, and that education is the only alternative. Sommaire Et la souffrance vgtale L'être idéal ? Un ange dévasté par l'humour. E.M. Cioran
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Thank you for such a great post.... And it wasn't too long  "To Be Consumed" Blog : I want to be your drug of painful withdrawals.
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Bonjour Spunky Très grand post , expliquer mon point de vu serait bien trop long . Mais maintenant je comprends pourquoi tu poses tellement de questions . ♥ Bisou ♥ Poton ♥ Annie ♥ Hello Spunky Great post explaining my point of view would be too long. But now I understand why you ask so many questions. ♥ Kiss ♥ Annie ♥
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Loved this post. It's so difficult to know what to say to the creationists and nay-sayers....and the Trump supporters. I feel defeated before I even begin. Love your thoughts, and your blog! Be back soon.
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Great post, I like it. I suspected you might have some sort of social studies background given some of the questions and posts in the past. You certainly picked an interesting field of study with plenty of material to observe.  Vive La Difference
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Your post is thoroughly enjoyable. It could have been longer! I've been frustrated with "creation science" too. There was a self help book back in the late sixties- "I'm OK, You're OK." There seems to be a tendency for people to believe that it applies to opinion, too, that all ideas have equal validity. But science isn't opinion, as you point out. It's maddening to try to reason with a person who clings to fact free theories. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Excellent read! I enjoyed reading this post, and it isn't too long. It is sad that so many people believe in creation when all the facts point to evolution. How do they explain ancient civilizations when their 'creator' was born mere 2000 year ago! Visit my blog It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World of NaughtyInSO, leave a comment, become a watcher. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LIVE AND LET LIVE Be happy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Hmm...a very philosophical look at science. I do love how science brings order to the world and then blows it to pieces...no, not the world (hopefully), the order it established for a second. At least in science there is a method to getting the facts, so that others can distort them how they see fit. Great post, and not too long at all. Oh, I just remembered struggling with organic chemistry a long time ago in the library. A student sat down at my table to do his homework. He was a Poly Sci major, and he had a newspaper and was circling articles (I kind of laughed to myself at his "homework"). We started talking and he was telling me what would happen if Nixon was elected to a second term. Dang, he was right!
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A really good post Spunky and definitely not too long. I have always been fascinated by Science....I loved it in school and always wanted to know HOW things worked. Now I find I am more interested in people....what makes them behave in certain ways.....why they do the things that they do. ~~Anais Nin~~
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Great post here spunky.. Well done! I even learn something from it hugss V Become a blog watcher sweet_vm
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Great post. Science or religion in the hands of a politician is equally bad. It is the certainty at which these assholes do things that scares me. They are so sure that releasing herpes at massive scale will kill carp and only carp with no other impact. The Australian politician,Barnaby Joyce, the deputy prime minister, said the only way to get rid of the "bottom-dwelling, mudsucking" fish was to unleash herpes on it. The A$15m ($11m; £8m) eradication program, dubbed "Carpageddon" by the government, aims to rid the Murray-Darling Basin of carp. Science Minister Christopher Pyne said the virus would have no impact on humans, but the clean-up would be costly. "Suddenly, there will be literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions of tonnes of carp that will be dead in the River Murray," Mr Pyne said. "Rules for happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for.”― Immanuel Kant .
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I like to call myself a "scientist" too. I stopped arguing with creationists. (Well at least about that.)  .. If that's what they want to believe, fine.  .. I've got better things to do.
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I was once on a cave tour. A woman and her two children were near me. Every time the tour guide would give a fact about how the cave was made, time it took, et al, the woman would loudly exclaim, "Isn't it wonderful what God did in just 7 days." UHG! Religion is for idiots. Give me science!
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What a terrific post!!! Well thought out and well presented. Makes me want to keep politicians out of science and religion AND medicine. It was not too long either, so don't apologize. The opening and closing cartoon credits were magnifico (Virtual Symposium Group) use Virtual Symposium Group
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Using the scientific method has its ups and downs! Too many people rely on science alone but sometimes we need faith! “Life is available only in the present moment.” Thich Nhat Hanh Come and read my blog! Become a watcher! veryfunnycple64 
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Good post!
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Hey Spunky, you have a great Blog! Just read some of your other stuff as well! But was mainly curious to read your "Science" Post - Mmm ...... Yep, we def do 'need' Science! Truly enjoyed reading this Blog as well! ..... And always 'hold onto all those sexy thoughts'! (Remember if you feel like taking part in some sexy fun then click here!) Come on Some Sketch Fun And Now How About 39Me39 Watching 39You39 If you39d like that Please Comment - So if you would like - click here as well!
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hiya Hugh! I just want to be first, I didn't read your post yet. 
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"It seems the people are not to be trusted when it comes to science!" Well let's just see how they fare voting for the President of The United States! This is an unusually serious and LONG post for you Hugh! Have you noticed since our little experiment we've rubbed off on each other a little bit? Maybe in the future we can try it again but not at such a great distance. Sorry, I just can't help myself sometimes. You bring out the very worst in me.
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I liked chemistry at school but biology and physics have captured my imagination since leaving school.
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Sorry for my bad English ! Google translator helps me! I am also a scientist, hard sciences. But I consider the social sciences as fully-fledged science. Except when using certain physical laws as such under pretexts that are statistical laws. The electrons are all identical, not humans. I had the opportunity recently to talk with witnesses of jehovah, creationists so. When I have some time I accept the discussion. I asked them what they thought, pushing many people to try to understand the rules that govern the world in which they live, and for so long. If it was ultimately a divine will that human beings are curious (I also specify that their concept of God is foreign to me). As usual, they told me that it deserved consideration and would return with people who have more arguments to discuss. I think unfortunately it's the lack of discernment that leads to all fanaticism, and that education is the only alternative. It's great to come across a scientist who regards social scientists as scientists, albeit imperfect scientists! --- S'il vous plaît ne vous excusez pas pour votre anglais. Ton anglais est bon; et mon français est mauvais, tres mal! Il est bon de venir à travers un scientifique qui considère sciences sociales en tant que scientifiques, mais les scientifiques imparfaits! PS My French is Google Translate!
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For me, religion should be a private thing and have nothing to do with the state, especially education. Science rules!
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Thank you for such a great post.... And it wasn't too long
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It's amazing how life got here! Even though some scientists claim there's life elsewhere I'm not sure we'd recognise it as life, never mind understanding life beyond this planet!
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