Scientific Integrity is an Oxymoron: Global warming and mainstream dogmatism‏

Editor's Note:  Scientific dogmatism demands that all except the idea that there is no God, ergo, religion is mere superstition.  Let's face reality; we are designed to be believers.  Believing takes on many forms. For some it has to do with a higher power. For others it can take on the worship of oneself and for others it can take on the worship of some philosophy or other; but we all seem to have the desire to look to some higher explanation for existence and human existence in particular. But one thing seems clear; believing’ is inherent to our genetic code. Otherwise how can anyone explain why so many have believed so much over so long a time of human history in so many different cultures?

Of course, the problem for the unbelievers among my readers with this explanation is that they would then have to explain how that genetic code was designed in that manner…or designed at all for that matter…. if there is no higher power.  So what happens when traditional views are cast off?   As an intrinsic need mankind will look to something else to be their “higher power” in which to have faith.  It is grasped at like a lifesaver to a drowning man.  Science; and the dogma surrounding so much of what is taught; what is accepted; what are acceptable; is no less religious in nature.  Once we begin to understand that we can begin the process of learing to ignore what "scientists" have to say when it doesn't fit what we see going on in reality or is in violation of historical foundation.  This appeared on the Australian blog Greenie Watch by Jon Ray.

New book:  Dogmatism in Science and Medicine: How Dominant Theories Monopolize Research and Stifle the Search for Truth
Here's a synopsis:

Unwarranted dogmatism has taken over in many fields of science: in Big-Bang cosmology, dinosaur extinction, theory of smell, string theory, Alzheimer's amyloid theory, specificity and efficacy of psychotropic drugs, cold fusion, second-hand smoke, continental drift . . . The list goes on and on.

Dissenting views are dismissed without further ado, and dissenters' careers are badly affected. Where public policy is involved - as with human-caused global warming and HIV/AIDS - the excommunication and harassment of dissenters reaches a fever pitch with charges of "denialism" and "denialists", a deliberate ploy of association with the no-no of Holocaust denying.

The book describes these circumstances. It claims that this is a sea change in scientific activity and in the interaction of science and society in the last half century or so, and points to likely causes of that sea change. The  best remedy would seem to be the founding of a Science Court, much discussed several decades ago but never acted on.

Reviews so far have been quite favorable, see here

[Jon Ray of Greenie Watch received this] “via email from the author:  Henry H. Bauer [hhbauer@vt.edu], professor emeritus of chemistry and science studies and dean emeritus of arts and sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech)”