Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id HAA25332 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 20 Mar 2002 07:14:53 GMT From: <AaronLynch@aol.com> Message-ID: <17b.55638e8.29c98f8a@aol.com> Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 02:08:58 EST Subject: Re: FW: MD Dawkins on quantum/mysticism convergence To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows 95 sub 113 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
In a message dated 3/19/2002 3:38:38 PM Central Standard
Time, Steve Drew <srdrew_1@hotmail.com> writes:
> > Hi Steve.
> >
> > Yes, scientists have their own irrational motives, as well as
> > requirements to put food on the table. Fellow scientists need
> > to consider these forms of influence, as does the general
> > public. People can benefit from being more savvy consumers
> > of information, and the more savvy information consumers
> > there are, the more the economics will favor honest works
> > rather than contagious and profitable mysticism. Ideally, I
> > would like to see less money and fame go to dishonest or
> > mystical works and more go to the honest and serious efforts.
>
> So would we all, but for a scientist to be honest they have to use
> qualifiers in many of their statements which the public in particular do
not
> seem to be able to handle, e.g. the concept of risk. The charlatan and
> mystic have the advantage of being able to say things with 'certainty',
> especially if it is couched in pseudo scientific language
Hi Steve.
The frequent use of qualifiers is a problem not only to the public,
but also to editors, who call it "weak prose." So qualifiers often
must be concentrated into a few very general statements
referring to an entire line of work, for instance. These are
mainly stylistic considerations, rather than matters of selling
out to something that a scientist privately considers to be
rubbish but may support anyway for the sake of profit, fame,
power, etc. You can't always tell who has knowingly sold out
and who has merely become confused or converted to some
movement. We are, after all, only directly aware of our own
beliefs, and must admit to uncertainty about everyone else's
beliefs. But it strikes me as quite reasonable to suppose that
among works of mystical pseudoscience, there profit, power,
and fame driven fabrications mixed in with serious lapses in
scientific reasoning by people who do not know that they
have made such mistakes.
--Aaron Lynch
> > Often, selling out to mysticism is done by people who already
> > have food on the table, but who want to get rich. They
> > can then have vested financial interests in attacking more
> > honest and serious lines of work, or even claiming that the
> > more honest and serious works are actually the mystical
> > frauds. They can also have vested financial interests in
> > deflecting attention from more honest and serious works.
>
> True enough.
>
> > Awareness of such things may help improve the process,
> > especially in today's highly competitive market economy.
>
> I'm not too sure about this, for the same reasons as earlier. Risk
> assessment is emotive. After 9/11 the number of people who flew dropped
> while other forms of transport in the US rose, despite the greater danger,
> not less.
> The statisticians could not say it would never happen again. I don't know
if
> there has been any research been done, but i would bet a couple of quid
that
> more than a few mystics were consulted by people about travel plans.
> >
> > - --Aaron Lynch
>
> Regards
>
> Steve
>
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