tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post112251294905256527..comments2023-11-22T01:14:54.298-08:00Comments on amor mundi: Is Science Democratic?Dale Carricohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-1123277101954690862005-08-05T14:25:00.000-07:002005-08-05T14:25:00.000-07:00Great comments, Martin -- my own sense of science ...Great comments, Martin -- my own sense of science squares with yours. <BR/><BR/>But I'm cheerfully willing to wave aside democratic republicanism versus republican democracy as a tomayto tomahto sort of thing, since I'm so happily surprised by the generous reactions of the Gene Expressionists to my essay. <BR/><BR/>Of course, the default culture of the Gene Expression blog is defined among other things by their distaste for "snark, political correctness, and social constructionism," every single one of which is amply in evidence in my thinking of these questions (at least on some definitions of these terms). I was fully expecting dismissal as a purveyor of "fashionable nonsense" or "menacing postmodern relativism" or something like that. <BR/><BR/>Anyway, the fact that they were open to my efforts to explain where I'm coming from as an anti-reductionist champion of consensus science makes me think that scientifically literate people who take social constructionist/science studies work seriously (as I do) might need to take greater care in formulating our positions.<BR/><BR/>I can hardly be the <I>only</I> one who loves Donna Haraway and Bruno Latour as much as I do Chris Mooney and Carl Sagan, and all of a piece in a single progressive pro-science vision of the world, after all!<BR/><BR/>I like to think a conversation really is possible among reasonable, scientifically literate people of good will, from <I>both</I> of Snow's "Two Cultures," a conversation that is alive to the possibilities of a rational enlightenment defined by sensitivity conjoined to objectivity, responsibility conjoined to instrumentality, solidarity conjoined to novelty.Dale Carricohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-1123270088091323052005-08-05T12:28:00.000-07:002005-08-05T12:28:00.000-07:00Science is more democratic than people give it cre...Science is more democratic than people give it credit for. There are a few scientists with a stature capable of influencing public and scientific opinion on certain matters, but not many. The reason why they appear more numerous or influential to laymen is an observation selection effect: famous scientists are famous enough to be known by laymen, ordinary scientists aren't.<BR/><BR/>But who are the influential luminaries in Alzheimer's, circadian rhythms, metal hydroboration, or nitrogen fixation research? Nobody. Anyone who has data and wants to challenge established theories can do so easily.<BR/><BR/>One legitimate place where science might be considered undemocratic is in publication. A small group of people (peer reviewers) is responsible for permitting information to be passed on to the rest of the scientific community. However, for any field, there are multiple competing journals to submit to. Further, these journals are scored with "impact factors" based on how many citations the articles that appear in them get, so that the scientific community votes democratically on the worthiness of the journals (and consequently the peer reviewers).<BR/><BR/>I would say it's more a democracy than a republic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-1123123792244380982005-08-03T19:49:00.000-07:002005-08-03T19:49:00.000-07:00Fair enough, especially if you mean a democratic r...Fair enough, especially if you mean a democratic republic... My problem, of course, is with those who want to make it a Church.Dale Carricohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-1123122812823449582005-08-03T19:33:00.000-07:002005-08-03T19:33:00.000-07:00i would say science is a republic, not a democracy...i would say science is a republic, not a democracy.Razib Khanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09555115542918519593noreply@blogger.com