First off, let me say I do not wish to sound disrespectful to anybody
here, leave alone my colleagues, to most of which goes my full esteem
and respect (yes, not all of them, doh). Yet, I feel compelled to write
today about a sociological datum I have paid attention to, in these
difficult times of isolation, when all of us turn to the internet as our
main outlet for rants, logorrhea, or to make the impending threat of a
global catastrophe less heavy by sharing it with our peers, to exorcise
our fears.
Physicists are accustomed, in their day to day activities, to think rationally about phenomena. Their job is to measure constants and parameters with no bias and with as little uncertainty as possible, interpret the results, and construct worldviews that expand our understanding of the universe. In so doing, they are guided by very well-established principles such as the scientific method, the idea of falsifiability, Occam's razor, and in general by scientific rigor, where hypotheses not verified beyond doubt and in multiple ways are by default considered false. And their actions are shaped by the built-in certainty that the authoritativeness of their word, spoken or written, is their only means of bringing bread to their table: hence they are frightened beyond description by making fools of themselves in print, through sloppiness or mistakes.
Physicists are accustomed, in their day to day activities, to think rationally about phenomena. Their job is to measure constants and parameters with no bias and with as little uncertainty as possible, interpret the results, and construct worldviews that expand our understanding of the universe. In so doing, they are guided by very well-established principles such as the scientific method, the idea of falsifiability, Occam's razor, and in general by scientific rigor, where hypotheses not verified beyond doubt and in multiple ways are by default considered false. And their actions are shaped by the built-in certainty that the authoritativeness of their word, spoken or written, is their only means of bringing bread to their table: hence they are frightened beyond description by making fools of themselves in print, through sloppiness or mistakes.
It
would seem natural to assume that academics who have subscribed to,
absorbed, and stuck to the above criteria and principles, throughout
lifetimes or half lifetimes of studies and research activities, will
exhibit a similar approach when they are confronted with situations
where their tools may still be handy, although the domain of application
is not the familiar one they usually move within. In a sense one would
be authorized to believe that their attainment of a Ph.D. in Physics
resulted in the diffusion within their bodily fluids of the fundamentals
of the scientific method, which will never leave them until they pull
the last kick. ..........To Read More @ Science 2.0
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