Slashdot Mirror
Of Diamond Planets, Climate Change, and the Scientific Method
A few weeks ago, we discussed the discovery of a diamond planet in orbit around a pulsar. One of the researchers behind the discovery has now written a followup article about reaction to the news from the media and laypeople. Quoting:
"The attention we received was 100% positive, but how different that could have been. How so? Well, we could have been climate scientists. ... Instead of sitting back and basking in the glory, I suspect we’d find a lot of commentators, many with no scientific qualifications, pouring scorn on our findings. People on the fringe of science would be quoted as opponents of our work, arguing that it was nothing more than a theory yet to be conclusively proven. There would be doubt cast on the interpretation of our data and conjecture about whether we were “buddies” with the journal referees. If our opponents dug really deep they might even find that I’d once written a paper on a similar topic that had to be retracted. Before long our credibility and findings would be under serious question. But luckily we’re not climate scientists."
The problem is that to climate denialists, once you are a climate scientist you've already "turned political." It's inherent to the profession according to their view (although oddly enough, the few scientists (maybe I should put quotes around that) who put forward theories that suggest that the currently accepted theories are flawed never get this label...).
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
It's to be expected when scientists piss off the the billionaire planet-raping fossil-fuel mongers such as the Koch bastards.
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Mussolini
> In recognition of this "politics in science", the U.S. created NSF, NASA, DARPA, and NIH.
Lemme try to parse that. Problem: Politics and science getting mixed up. Solution: Create several massive government funding sources (read politically driven), drive out almost all other funding by thus flooding the zone and declare this to be a solution. This word 'solution,' I do not think it means what you think it means.
This whole /. story is frickin lame anyway. Jeeze, slashdot has trolled the readers before to generate pageviews but this one is so full of stupid I was tempted to just ignore it. Bunch of pussy scientists whining about the ignorant little people who won't just shut the hell up and let their better run their lives for them. Bah.
They don't worry about people getting upset about their silly little diamond star for a reason so simple it is apparently beyond their overly developed brains to figure out. (Or they are just trolls in labcoats, and my money is on troll.) Nobody really gives a damn whether there is a diamond star/planet somewhere beyond our reach. It is kinda neat, those of us with an interest in science will read the story and move on. Other scientists might eventually poke holes in the data or conclusions but it won't matter to the world at large for a hundred years at a minimum. It is thus pure science and the scientists are free to do in in peace, free from political influence because it doesn't matter. On the other hand AGW does matter. If AGW is correct our civilization as we know it will certainly change, if not be brought to an end. Even if it is wrong, if we allow the progressives to use it to scare us, our civilization as we know it ends. In short, it MATTERS. And when debating something that MATTERS fierce passions will be stirred, people will take sides, politics will happen. Only a pointy headed intellectual in an ivory tower safely insulated from the real world would have to wonder about the level of debate currently going on about AGW.
Democrat delenda est