

21st century scientists need to produce Public-Friendly Open Science - apepe
https://www.authorea.com/users/2/articles/50890/_show_article

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drallison
Matteo Cantiello is wrong. The "public" generally lacks the knowledge of
mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science necessary to
read and understand research. Moreover, many members of the public are
encumbered by belief systems which make understanding impossible and which
lead to unproductive arguments about whether global warming is real or whether
evolution exists. What is needed is for there not to be a dichotomy between
scientists and non-scientists; everyone should be a scientist.

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tylerneylon
It sounds like you're arguing that people wouldn't understand new results if
they were more open. Most people I know well are educated/intelligent and
could understand leading-edge research results within their own field, so I
disagree. (And I don't work at a university!)

Even if only a minority of the public understood publicly-available research,
having all results open could change the way the world works. It was hard to
see how the information-sharing of the internet would change the world, so I
can understand how this is hard to see as well.

You also hint that science deserves more wide-spread respect, and that the
world be better off if people were better educated and tended to be more
scientifically-minded. I agree with that!

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drallison
I was arguing that we live in a post-literate post-numeracy world where most
people have not learned the basics of science. Even people who have scientific
or engineering education don't know much about other disciplines. Most modern
scientific research does not play well to the public because they do not have
the tools and knowledge necessary to understand.

I would like to see science and technology more accessible, but that means the
public needs to learn more science and mathematics. And, it means that some
members will need to abandon some of their beliefs, which are not supported by
evidence.

