Okay, so a human, a strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts, and nature walk into a bar...
human: "strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts, i've been doing human things all day and require diversion, show me nature." strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts: "okay." (shows a still image of six manatee spleens to the human. nature laughs.) human: "what's that?" strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts: "that's nature." human: "no it's not. it's not even moving." (nature makes overly intense but effective eye contact with another nubile nature at the other end of the bar.) strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts: (to human) "but it's beautiful." human: "c'mon, show me something natural." nature: "i'll be right back." strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts: (to human) "fine." (shows a flower blowing in what appears to be wind.) human: "that's nice." strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts: "but it's not real." human: "what?" strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts: "it's a cyclorama. i made it. the wind is me breathing off-screen." human: (disappointedly) "oh..." (starts to expect something.) strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts: "i know what you want..." (shows butterflies boxing. the contest appears to have been particularly brutal to this point; both contenders are sweating profusely and covered in blood. the butterfly in the yellow trunks with black trim knocks out the champ with a devastating uppercut.) human: "wow. but..." strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts: "you're right, that was ridiculous and untrue. how about this..." (shows a closeup of anything being born.) human: "gross..." strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts: (quickly changes the image to something previously nearly-symmetrical being eaten alive by something vicious and hungry in an effort to maintain it's own near-symmetry.) human: (emits pathos.) strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts: (shows the human expecting nature to appear in the strip of camphorated nitrocellulose coated with an emulsion of silver halide salts) human: "ummm..." THE END -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Wayne Tyson Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2010 11:42 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Naturefaking in media 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.445 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3160 - Release Date: 09/26/10 07:01:00
