
Hermits and Cranks: Lessons from Martin Gardner on Recognizing Pseudoscientists - stretchwithme
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hermits-and-cranks-lesson
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adbge
This article reads more like an attack on any researcher outside the
traditional scientific establishment than anything else.

It occurs to me that a skeptic should not predicate his skepticism on
someone's background or how "crazy" they are. A skeptic ought to thoroughly
consider something solely on its merits.

Consider, for a moment, that instead of saying that cranks are usually
antisocial we said that cranks are usually black. Supposing that is true,
would it be fair to say we should be more skeptical of black scientists? Of
course not.

This is just prejudiced trash.

~~~
pmichaud
It's impossible to consider everything by its merits. There is an untold
deluge of information out there, vying for our attention. We have to filter it
somehow. If someone acts exactly like all the other idiots in the history of
"science," then they get filtered out until they have something better to
show.

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wisty
I'm just wondering - how can you differentiate a crank for a lone genius?

There's examples of scientists who worked alone and were rejected by "the
establishment". Darwin and Galileo are the classic examples. Though, their
persecution had an obvious root.

Counter examples would include Newton, Einstein, Faraday, and above all
Cavendish. Complete outsiders who had a big impact and were highly respected
by their peers.

In some less scientific fields, though, it seems that the cranks have the
upper hand.

~~~
pook
Here is how: <http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html>

~~~
raganwald
For fun, pick up a copy of "A New Kind of Science" and infer Wolfram's
crackpot index solely from the one book. Is he a crackpot? An outsider genius?
A man who gets many things right but stumbles from time to time?

~~~
_delirium
I like this page on that subject, particularly noticing how Wolfram made his
own author blurb more crackpottish as time went on:
[http://chrishecker.com/Kurt_G%C3%B6del_is_Laughing_His_Ass_O...](http://chrishecker.com/Kurt_G%C3%B6del_is_Laughing_His_Ass_Off_Right_Now)

