Apparently I'm wrong about tribalism in science. Apparently it's actually a perfectly acceptable practise and even a good thing, and instead of trying to stop it we should encourage it. Even when it's about trivial matters of no real importance, we should deliberately piss people off.
Aaaaaarrrgggh.
Sometimes I don't know why I bother, I really don't. If anyone needs me I'll be busy beating my head against a wall for the next few hours.
(I wouldn't bother posting this were it not for the fact the OP is an otherwise intelligent and respectable individual)
I get the sarcasm. The closest thing to tribalism still acceptable in science is to hold different opinions on the reliability of inconclusive evidence. When people can agree on the confidence levels, there is essentially only one scenario analysis identifying all the possible interpretations with commonly agreed probabilities and confidence levels assigned to each alternative scenario. With complex or otherwise difficult to measure hypotheses and theories people can't always agree on the relative likelihoods of different explanations. Some may consider the evidence and conclusions more convincing than others. The "softer" the science, the more situations like these we get. The more different schools of interpretation we get.
ReplyDeleteIt's like when addressing a cosmology tribe...
ReplyDeleteI say the expansion of the universe is relative... or "how does one verify that clocks measure time?" And cosmologists say "That's philosophy, not physics."
Sakari Maaranen Indeed. Coming to different conclusions because of the evidence (be that by looking at different evidence or interpreting the same evidence in different ways) is absolutely fine. That's what makes the scientific consensus so powerful on those occasions there is one - not because everyone wants to toe the line, but because everyone has reached the same conclusion independently after rejecting other ideas.
ReplyDeleteBeing part of one of those competitive collaborations is fine. Trying to disprove competitors is fine. And of course, sometimes things get out of hand, as is human nature. But deliberately and premptively making fun of the general public, calling them "babies" and just plain being nasty while insisting "it's all in good fun" ? That really winds me up the wrong way. Even if it was meant humorously, it's a stupendously bad idea.
Yes, Rhys Taylor. It is pure, plain old bullying. Not just tribalism, but the kind of tribalism that actively seeks conflict.
ReplyDelete