
Neil DeGrasse Tyson makes an excellent point, but Larry Summers is still right - markmassie
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/2014/04/22/neil-degrasse-tyson-has-a-point-but-larry-summers-is-still-right/
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lutusp
The linked article tries to equate two unequal kinds of science:

> Instead, let us limit ourselves to the sciences, which encompass both
> natural sciences and social sciences.

The problem with this approach is that one of those categories is science as
science is defined (i.e. rigorous, objective, deterministic, falsifiable), the
other isn't.

The author goes on to show that the overwhelming gender disparity in the
"hard" sciences is balanced by an opposite and equally overwhelming gender
disparity in the social sciences --

    
    
                          (Men:Women)
    
       Physics:           1694: 448
       Computer Science:  1465: 380
       Chemistry:         1520: 897
       Psychology:        1047:2566
    
    

\-- therefore (the author implies but never actually says this) maybe the much
discussed STEM issue is overblown.

But it overlooks the fact that social science is not rigorous science, and (in
a classic case of self-reference) a perfect example is the linked article,
which makes its argument by comparing non-comparable things.

The STEM problem is not that there aren't enough women in all sciences
including the social sciences -- the linked article proves this isn't so --
the problem is that there are too few women in the sciences that actually
matter to society.

Another comment:

> Men, on average, are superior at mathematical reasoning.

That depends on how one defines "mathematical reasoning". According to
surveys, women are better at mathematical calculating, men are better at
abstract mathematical thinking.

To summarize, to students reading this post, students who might not have
decades of life experience to season one's outlook, I must say that from a
perspective in college, physics and psychology may appear to be equal in rank,
but they aren't:

[http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2014/majors-
th...](http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2014/majors-that-pay-you-
back)

    
    
       Majors by Salary Potential – Full List
    
       ...
    
       9.  Physics    mid-career salary: $101,000
       ...
       85. Psychology mid-career salary: $60,700
    

This apart from the fact that physics is the gold standard by which other
sciences are measured (i.e. unfavorably compared).

