

Feynman's Cargo Cult Science - rw_rrr
http://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/cargocul.htm

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jbooth
_"I'm talking about a specific, extra type of integrity that is not lying, but
bending over backwards to show how you are maybe wrong, that you ought to have
when acting as a scientist. And this is our responsibility as scientists,
certainly to other scientists, and I think to laymen"_

He's right, of course, and that's why science is routinely beaten to a pulp in
the media by those with an agenda who don't care about the truth.

~~~
jbert
The honest suffer when everyone lies, true.

That can be fixed by raising the cost of lying, rather than accepting it as
the norm with consequences.

Humans have a tool for this, it's called reputation.

The more we accept, say, that all politicians are liars, the more both the
honest and the listener suffer.

We should be outraged when someone has been shown to lie. It should be a
resigning matter.

~~~
jbooth
Or at least when it's lying repeatedly and deliberately. Fox News shouldn't
have an audience (this is not a statement about conservatism, it's a statement
about Fox News).

But if you're confirming people's biases, particularly regarding some "other"
being the enemy (this week it's muslims in NYC), then the truth is going to
take a back seat to that warm feeling of self-righteousness.

~~~
anamax
> Or at least when it's lying repeatedly and deliberately. Fox News shouldn't
> have an audience (this is not a statement about conservatism, it's a
> statement about Fox News).

It's curious that you only mentioned Fox.

Many of my progressive friends think that the NYT and ABC, CBS, and NBC
shouldn't have audiences either, for pretty much the same reason.

~~~
jbooth
I'll stand by the statement.

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andreyf
If you like this line of reasoning, Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions" [1] is a great academic approach to the same epistemological
questions, applied to the academic community, and with some very bold
conclusions about knowledge as a whole.

1\.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Rev...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions)

~~~
colonelxc
I went through that book in a Philosophy of Science class, and I too recommend
it. I also recommend the class, if you get a chance.

I think it is important for all scientists to understand the history of
science and even spend some time thinking about the cultural/societal problems
that hamper scientific progress currently.

------
briandoll
On a similar note, Robert Krulwich, one of the hosts of RadioLab on NPR gave a
commencement speech at California Institute of Technology called “Tell Me a
Story.”

It's a great reminder that we all learn through stories, and that stories are
really the only way to convey complex ideas to the general public. Not telling
these stories, because we think they won't get it, harms everyone and creates
a vacuum of truth where more appealing unscientific stories then dominate.

Audio of the talk: <http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2008/07/29/tell-me-a-
story/>

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ataggart
The field of economics has, for quite a while, been suffering from this sort
of scientistic behavior, aping the practices of the physical sciences, while
dismissing aprioristic economics simply because it doesn't.

The following is a rather long, but quite decent discussion of the topic with
a physicist that actually worked with Feynman.

[http://commentlog.org/bid/4408/Feynman-Rothbard-and-the-
Scie...](http://commentlog.org/bid/4408/Feynman-Rothbard-and-the-Science-of-
Economics)

------
undefined_user
For those who dont know

This is an excerpt from the awesome book "Surely you're joking Mr. Feyman" The
whole book is full of short anecdotes like this and is an amazing read.

[http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-
Char...](http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-
Character/dp/0393316041)

Edit: spelling

~~~
nollidge
I think you mean anecdotes :)

------
Paddy3118
Integrity in conducting scientific experiments? Now there's an idea!

