From: Amara Graps (Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de)
Date: Fri May 03 2002 - 08:31:29 MDT
Harvey Newstrom:
>Sadly, it is because the public doesn't trust scientists, or more
>specifically, big corporations to use technology for good instead of
>evil. [...]Every corrupt corporation, falsified scientific report,
>and fraudulent research paper just hurts science worse than critics
>do. Critics don't have much ground to blame real science for bad
>things. However, bad science gives them the foundation they need
>to attack all science.
This is a large claim, and I wonder if you are using 'scientists' too
broadly. I have never heard of fraudulent research papers and
falsified scientific reports in the science fields that I've
personally worked in during the last 20 years (planetary science,
infrared astronomy, ultraviolet astronomy, atmospheric science,
numerical analysis). Of course some exist, but I believe that they are
rare cases.
Perhaps the rare cases that do appear are blown out of proportion by
some group, and maybe coloring science in your mind to look this way.
My opinion, though, that the vast majority of science that occurs
today is very reputable and credible work.
Amara
--
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Amara Graps, PhD | Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik
Heidelberg Cosmic Dust Group | Saupfercheckweg 1
+49-6221-516-543 | 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY
Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de * http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/dustgroup/~graps
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"Never fight an inanimate object." - P. J. O'Rourke
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