raghu wrote: > We might add that this sort of thing is not peculiar to economics > either. A couple of years back, there was a big controversy about > whether string theorists are monopolizing theoretical physics by > intimidation and indoctrination:
I can imagine the other scientists finding themselves tied up with string... > It is naive to think that any academic or scientist is only "searching > for the truth". The truth can be a very complicated thing.. in theory, peer review & replication are supposed to screen out the bad research of those who don't search for the truth very well. The "search for truth" is really more of a collective endeavor (though that sometimes fails, too). > However it is definitely true that academics are motivated less by > money as compared to businessmen. Or perhaps it's that when academics start being motivated more by money (e.g., when the college administration and/or corporate sponsors push to develop things that can be patented) they stop being good academics. In science, the business mentality threatens to destroy peer review and even replication, as the idea is (for example) to develop a "blockbuster drug" and market it for the big bucks rather than allowing independent scientists to evaluate the research. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
