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Re: [Phys-l] About the "why" and "how questins."



An example of what I'm talking about in the following link. Scientists making dire predictions that are falsified by the consumer's lying eyes. UK is experiencing 100 year record cold temperatures and snow at present. Yes, the current temps in the UK mean little statistically because you can still have an overall warming, but here you have climatologists in 2000 saying there the UK won't see snow again. Overstating their case, and leading to mistrust of the scientists. The scientists have no one to blame but themselves for the mistrust. Plain honesty would serve them better.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html

Bill


William C. Robertson, Ph.D.
Bill Robertson Science, Inc.
Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It.
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On Dec 20, 2010, at 10:46 PM, William Robertson wrote:

My comment, and the quote, had nothing to do with whether or not
scientists were or are religious, or whether religious people were or
are qualified to study science. Rather, it addresses the fact that
religious views have little to say about the scientific enterprise and
that science has little to say about religion. "Preachers doing
science" refers to ID and creationism, where people pretend that their
religious viewpoints are in some way connected to the practice of
science. It's a sham. "Scientists preaching" refers to the idiotic
notion that scientists can answer questions of religion. Science says
nothing about why we are here in this universe, but some scientists
(Hawking among them) pretend that science can answer that question.
Not just arrogance, but in all honesty, a misunderstanding of what
science is about.

As I have said in other posts, the way scientists should combat those
who pretend that religion is science is to be honest about the
science. We explain what theories are, and admit freely that they are
theories and not fact (especially in the case of evolution). And the
scientific community should not be silent when people like Hawking
claim that science is somehow on the verge of knowing what God
intended. Most of us, I hope, know that science does not address such
questions.

Ignoring the ever-present evolution debate, much of the "high
entanglement" you refer to is, I believe, mostly due to AGW.
Scientists would not be in so deep in this entanglement if they simply
presented facts and let up on the propaganda (dire predictions of
catastrophe). When scientists exaggerate their case (and any objective
observer has to agree that the case for AGW has been exaggerated in
some circles), they lose the moral high ground. When the dire
predictions fail to materialize, the public loses confidence.

So to go back to the quote, scientists should not preach. But they do.

Submitted from an agnostic and a science educator.

Bill