[FoRK] Science: No Ideology, No False Agenda

[Jeff Bone]

On Jan 8, 2008, at 1:49 PM, Dr. Ernie Prabhakar wrote:

> Hi Jeff,
>
> On Jan 8, 2008, at 10:52 AM, Jeff Bone wrote:
>> Well put:
>>
>>  http://informationparadox.blogspot.com/2008/01/science-no- 
>> ideology-no-false-agenda.html
>
> I'm curious -- how many people on this list have actually spent  
> time as practicing scientists?

Define your terms...

I'd note for the record that *doing* science doesn't require anything  
particular other than just, well, *doing* it.

Was Einstein "practicing" science when he was working in the patent  
office in Bern?  Was Newton "practicing" science while working at  
Woolthorpe?  Was Ramanujan "practicing" science when scribbling in  
his notebook at the Madras Port Trust Office?  (Is math a "natural"  
science?)

I'll admit that part of the difficulty in discussing science is in  
distinguishing between the epistemological method per se and the  
institutional community and practice that has evolved in academic and  
commercial research.  They are clearly two different things.  I  
consider it somewhat arrogant on the part of the academicians and  
journalists to assert that the latter is in any sense more important  
than the former.  Major shifts in mankind's understanding of the  
world have often been made by scientists working solo, outside any  
institution and often outside even the cultural scientific  
establishment.


jb