>... Science is the search for the widest possible consensus
> among competent researchers.
>
> I think this captures succinctly the scientific method better
> than much of what we rail against here on phys-L or have
> sometimes proposed. The opening paragraph in a later
> chapter states:
>
> "Science is a social activity that studies those things for which a
> universal consensus is possible. Its methods are experimentation
> and mathematics because it is possible to obtain general agreement
> using them. They are, to use Ziman's term consensible. This isn't
> because these methods are unambiguous -- the case of cold fusion
> shows just how ambiguous experiments can be -- but because their
> ambiguities are capable of resolution.
shows what one "cold fusion" researcher wrote about ugly
aspects of the process of consensus reaching. This article
is worth reading, I think. My apology for the length; I did not
want to take anything away from this important testimony.
By the way, do not miss the article on new APS ethical
standards in the last issue of Physics Today (page 20).
Ludwik Kowalski