On Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 8:00 AM, Charles Curley <[email protected]> wrote: > Very interesting, indeed. I note that the author also graduated in > history, specialising in history of science. Perhaps specialists are too > specialised? > > This reminds me of the Michael Bellesiles scandal. > https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Michael_Bellesiles I > happened to have a ring-side seat to the debunking of Bellesiles. I > noted at the time that not one of the people involved in the debunking > effort was a professional, academic historian. Cramer is an amateur > historian and subsequent to the debunking effort earned a masters in > history but continues to earn his living as a software engineer. > https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Clayton_Cramer > > Perhaps those folks with cross-discipline educations have a perspective > that helps them avoid the herd mentality?
I find it a very similar tale reading through Miles Mathis works on physics and the state of the current physics community. He's an artist w/a degree in philosophy--coming at it sideways. http://milesmathis.com/ /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
