Bill and Ecolog:
Again, I'm with you on the subjectivity hang-up problem. These things are
hard to generalize about; maybe we should start looking harder and nature
films and try to sort out priorities and degrees of fakery and whether the
"fakery" adds to or detracts from the truth.
I'm also with you on fuzzy logic. In fact, my farewell talk to SERCAL was on
that very subject. It wasn't published in the proceedings, but the essence
of the message is here: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol5/iss2/art5/
WT
PS: Hostility is usually defensive, and is best ignored whilst sticking to
the substance of the issue. We can't help it if there are so many insecure
folks out there scrambling up some imaginary pyramid.
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Silvert" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2010 1:29 PM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Naturefaking in media
I thank Dave for his posting, which addresses the controversial topic of
subjectivity in science. Many scientists condemn any hint of subjectivity
even though it is always present. I have run into this a lot because I
have
been advocating the use of fuzzy logic, which is often rejected out of
hand
because of the overtones of subjectivity.
It is intersting that reference to paradigms does not generate the same
hostility, even though the concept implies that the whole field is prone
to
subjective bias!
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "David M. Lawrence" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: domingo, 26 de Setembro de 2010 17:02
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Naturefaking in media
Scientists do "story selection" all the time, though they may be
reluctant to admit it. They (we) select the hypotheses to be tested,
then
select the subjects, data to be collected, field and analytical methods,
presentation methods, etc. It's not much different than what documentary
filmmakers or journalists do. All are choices driven by the need to make
the best use of the medium you are communicating in.
Scientists shouldn't be so blind to the "subjectivity" that goes into
their work. Such blindness, as we have seen in the scientific
controversy
over the past few years, has helped feed the erosion of credibility that
many institutions in our society have felt.
Dave
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