Daniel
Carpal tunnel level member
- Location
- Suburban Philadelphia (Wayne)
This came up in another thread. I think it deserves its own. Science has several inherent problems.. when people say "I BELIEVE IN SCIENCE", it's quietly amusing to me, because most of them don't remember what "science" is, from the 6th grade. What they actually believe is what someone told them is the scientific consensus about things like the formation of the universe, evolution, human origins, human physiology, gravity, quantum physics, etc. What they actually believe in is often nothing more than a story, a narrative. And many times this narrative is the result of an elaborate and well-funded PR campaign, or even propaganda.
Narratives like the only way to stop the spread of this terrible pandemic is for everyone to take a vaxxine that science assures us is safe and effective after 2 months of testing. You better take it before you kill grandma. Of course... we had to skip the animal trials because we were working at the "speed of science." Please don't ask why no other mRNA technology has been able to pass the animal trials in the last 20 years. And of course the most ridiculous statement is Fauci saying "I AM the science."
Anyone who is paying attention and has the common sense of a 3rd grader can see that, in the plandemic, science was manipulated and falsified by big pharma and other institutions that made billions in profits by deliberately fabricating a story and calling it science. This is a perfect example of one of the many problems and limitations of science. That is: science is performed by deeply flawed human beings, who will deliberately falsify science to pursue profits and power.
Another clear example of the flaws and limitations of science resulting from human shortcomings is the "Clovis First" narrative that was held up as "science" for decades, well after enough evidence to the contrary had been documented that no rational human could deny it. Yet any young scientist who tried to say that "the emperor has no clothes" was putting their career at risk. Here, the human flaw is not so much abject greed, though the professors who held themselves to be the unquestionable experts in the field were certainly making bank from their prestigious positions as academic authorities at great universities. Here the human flaw is the inability to admit you got it wrong: that the entire story you built your career on was wrong the whole time.
NOBODY WANTS TO ADMIT THAT THEY WERE WRONG. NOBODY WANTS TO ADMIT THAT THEY WERE FOOLED. NOBODY WANTS TO ADMIT, IN LIGHT OF NEW EVIDENCE, HOW STUPID THEY WERE.
We can call this human defect hubris. The thing I like about the example of hubris affecting science in the "Clovis First" narrative is that the average person doesn't have his or her ego at stake in the conversation. Most people don't really care how many thousands of years ago the first humans set foot in the Americas. So most can look at the facts objectively and see how the science was manipulated for decades. I offer this perspective as a means of showing how as humans, we are often so attached to our stories that we are willing to ignore and dismiss evidence to the contrary, no matter how significant. As arborists, we are subject to the same bias. This is the way I was taught by Marv in 1974, so it must be true.
50 years later and the industry is still attached to Shigos misguided teachings on target pruning. The three-cut method for limb removal still appears in educational materials; the notched must be 1/3 depth is still held as gospel by many, though few can provide a complete explanation. etc..
So let's get back to "Clovis first", again because few have any ego on the subject..
Narratives like the only way to stop the spread of this terrible pandemic is for everyone to take a vaxxine that science assures us is safe and effective after 2 months of testing. You better take it before you kill grandma. Of course... we had to skip the animal trials because we were working at the "speed of science." Please don't ask why no other mRNA technology has been able to pass the animal trials in the last 20 years. And of course the most ridiculous statement is Fauci saying "I AM the science."
Anyone who is paying attention and has the common sense of a 3rd grader can see that, in the plandemic, science was manipulated and falsified by big pharma and other institutions that made billions in profits by deliberately fabricating a story and calling it science. This is a perfect example of one of the many problems and limitations of science. That is: science is performed by deeply flawed human beings, who will deliberately falsify science to pursue profits and power.
Another clear example of the flaws and limitations of science resulting from human shortcomings is the "Clovis First" narrative that was held up as "science" for decades, well after enough evidence to the contrary had been documented that no rational human could deny it. Yet any young scientist who tried to say that "the emperor has no clothes" was putting their career at risk. Here, the human flaw is not so much abject greed, though the professors who held themselves to be the unquestionable experts in the field were certainly making bank from their prestigious positions as academic authorities at great universities. Here the human flaw is the inability to admit you got it wrong: that the entire story you built your career on was wrong the whole time.
NOBODY WANTS TO ADMIT THAT THEY WERE WRONG. NOBODY WANTS TO ADMIT THAT THEY WERE FOOLED. NOBODY WANTS TO ADMIT, IN LIGHT OF NEW EVIDENCE, HOW STUPID THEY WERE.
We can call this human defect hubris. The thing I like about the example of hubris affecting science in the "Clovis First" narrative is that the average person doesn't have his or her ego at stake in the conversation. Most people don't really care how many thousands of years ago the first humans set foot in the Americas. So most can look at the facts objectively and see how the science was manipulated for decades. I offer this perspective as a means of showing how as humans, we are often so attached to our stories that we are willing to ignore and dismiss evidence to the contrary, no matter how significant. As arborists, we are subject to the same bias. This is the way I was taught by Marv in 1974, so it must be true.
50 years later and the industry is still attached to Shigos misguided teachings on target pruning. The three-cut method for limb removal still appears in educational materials; the notched must be 1/3 depth is still held as gospel by many, though few can provide a complete explanation. etc..
So let's get back to "Clovis first", again because few have any ego on the subject..
