[extropy-chat] Doubt and About

[Robin Hanson]

On 12/10/2003 Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> > ... Just because someone patents an idea, or keeps it secret,
> > doesn't mean that they don't know anything!!  ...
>
>This is very dubious.  Peer review is required by the scientific method.
>People who want to claim scientific discoveries without using the scientific
>method or undergoing scientific scrutiny should be viewed with extreme
>skepticism.  Basically, they want the world to trust them without providing
>evidence for their claims.  This is unacceptable practice.  At best, these
>patents must be considered "unsubstantiated" in the scientific community.
>
> > ... Few people defend the Soviet socialist model these days; it
> > used to be politically charged, but now people have given up.
>
>This is not an example of science or pseudoscience.  Political "science" is
>not the kind of science we are discussing.
>
>I am not objecting to accountants making payment decisions.  I am objecting
>to accountants making treatment decisions.
>
>My points are about science versus pseudoscience.  Your responses seem to be
>in the realm of politics, economics and accounting.  You have not discussed
>the same topic that I discussed.

Your original claim was that "there are more faux experts than real experts
in the public spotlight today," and that this was worse than it used to be.
So I thought we were talking about expertize, i.e, the fact that some people
know a lot more about certain topics than other people.  I didn't realize
that you only meant to refer to a certain type of expert, the "scientist"
who uses the "scientific method", which apparently includes "peer review,"
and cannot include experts in politics or accounting.

I know too little about what you mean by "scientist" to have much of an
opinion about whether there are more or less of them listened to today.
Many years of study, including a Masters in the history and philosophy of
science, convinced me that "science" isn't a very useful concept.






Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323