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The Real End of Science

Posted October 03, 2012 7:10 AM

From Discover Magazine | rsslist:

Fifteen years ago John Horgan wrote The End Of Science: Facing The Limits Of Knowledge In The Twilight Of The Scientific Age. I remain skeptical as to the specific details of this book, but Carl's write-up in The New York Times of a new paper in PNAS on the relative commonness of scientific misconduct in cases of retraction makes me mull over the genuine possibility of the end of science as we know it. This sounds ridiculous on the face of it, but you have to understand my model of and framework for what science is. In short: science is people. I accept the reality that science existed in some form among strands of pre-Socratic thought, or among late antique and medieval Muslims and Christians (not to mention among some Chinese as well). Additionally, I can accept the cognitive model whereby science and scientific curiosity is rooted in our psychology in a very deep sense, so that even small children engage in theory-building.

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#1

Re: The Real End of Science

10/03/2012 8:16 AM

Three comments.

1. 'Carl'? As if we all know who Carl is. [Turns out it's Carl Zimmer. Ordinarily a person's whole name is cited when first appearing in an article.]

2. The author of this article, Razib Khan, likes loves habaneros. And that's relevant because...?

3. There is no info given as to whether Carl loves habaneros, or not. So clearly this whole thing is incomplete.

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#2

Re: The Real End of Science

10/03/2012 8:55 AM

The latest increase in fraud can easily be attributed to the Nonsense Science around Global Warming/Climate Change.

Science lives, but the way it is presented is what kills our perception.

In the end there is only so many true scientists with the vision and abilty to pursue science at its best. And they will do it, but we probably missing the chance to ever give all of them credit to what they do since maybe not be seen nor heard.

Mainstream science is what is presented. True science is being done.

And if science is people we will always have it as long there is people.

Did I miss the deep cognitive implications?

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#4
In reply to #2

Re: The Real End of Science

10/03/2012 2:41 PM

Science lives, but the way it is presented is what kills our perception.

Speaking of which, the media are partly to blame.....

Discussion on the movie "The core".

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#5
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Re: The Real End of Science

10/04/2012 6:21 AM

The media form a lot of our perception. Yes they are to blame. The same are we if we do not keep an inch of our own perceptivity alive.

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#3

Re: The Real End of Science

10/03/2012 12:20 PM

If science were to be envisioned as a 16+ year long formal education, we are still in the first day of preschool...imo

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