What is your general attitude toward science?

[BurtWorm]

[LWolf]

1. Other:

Science itself is great.

Human misuse of science is not.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

39. + 2.35 billion

[tk2kewl]

2. science itself invoke no feeling in me so i said neutral

it is a method to discovery. the discoveries are often awe inspiring and those are the things i feel great about.

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. What in the Sam Hell do all those experts know about anything?

The real test is whether you would want to have a beer with them.

[mike_c]

LOL-- but on a more serious note, scientists are best not thought of as "experts...."

Many are experts in their fields, of course, or something like that. I can't bring myself to think of myself as an "expert" in anything. There is so much to learn, and so little time and processing power.

The term "expert" seems like some sort of end-point to me, something that one can achieve and then possess like a new car. None of my colleagues think this way about their work, at least to my knowledge. I certainly don't. We're just doing our best to learn a small fraction more of the immense body of knowledge that we will never know. The more we learn, the more certain we become that we're NOT experts!

[YOY]

4. I believe GLADOS speaks for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tax4e4hBBZc

"I'm sure we can put our differences behind us...for Science...you monster."

[Demeter]

5. Science Is What I Prefer to Religion

for anything except the music and art. There's been very little music and art in science...although much appreciation for it by the scientifically-minded.

[stuntcat]

25. exactly precisely

all what you said, ditto.

[pipi_k]

6. I've always loved Science, even when I was very young n/t

[mike_c]

7. fair disclosure-- I'm an academic scientist....

As a class, we're among the most liberal of academicians, IMO. The culture of "demonstrable truth through data" is the only one I really have any confidence in.

[ixion]

8. Science and Scientific Method are very important tools in our toolbox

and I have great respect for the process. However, I have run into far too many academics posing to be scientists, who are simply milking the University for money.

That is, I've met too many "scientists" over the years who are incurious and pragmatic. That is what I don't care for in the realm of Western Science.

[Xipe Totec]

9. This poll is not very scientific nt

[BurtWorm]

10. .

:P

I got your scientific right here!

( ;-) )

[peace13]

11. Depends on who is paying the scientists! n/t

[FredStembottom]

12. Ideally, I would have said: Pos. w/ some very serious reservations.

Like how scientists just might unleash something that could kill us all before knowing how to contain it.

I really wish we would move into an era where containment of possible outcomes are researched first.

[mike_c]

41. I'd argue that's not science, really....

Science is about figuring out how the universe works, or more precisely, how the material world works. In other words, science is about acquiring knowledge and understanding. Knowledge is not inherently dangerous. It's just knowledge.

What we DO with that knowledge is often the purview of others, and even when it's explored by science, it's still APPLICATION, not knowledge. Physics might be concerned with describing the quantum nature of the universe, but engineering uses that knowledge to build bombs or drill holes in the seabed. Biologists might seek understanding of animal physiology, but doctors translate that knowledge into medical applications. And so on.

I'm making the distinction because I agree with you about the need to be wary of unintended consequences, but I don't think fear of consequences should keep us from exploring and seeking to expand our knowledge and understanding of the world, i.e. science. It's the applications of that understanding that we need to regulate, and that means regulating something other than science, IMO.

[FredStembottom]

60. I agree with you, actually.

It's the ol' distinction between Science (a way of looking) and Applied Science.
But I lumped them together if only because one leads to the other.
But I am also increasingly alarmed by the things that science might do that could get away.
There may well be things that just shouldn't be done - the discussion around the start-up of the Hadron collider and how it just might possibly produce a black hole was a preview.
I just heard an interview with a man with a brand new type of position at the EPA. He is tasked with getting ahead of all things nano. As in nano particles and nano machines.
He will actively be searching for how some of this "grey goo" might act should it get away into the environment.

I think that's a first glimpse of the kind of thing that will be huge in the future - pre-research.

[Zoeisright]

13. The only reason our lifespan is more than 30 years is because of science.

Modern medicine, based on science, has eradicated many terrible diseases and extended life. How could anyone think that is evil?

[Warren DeMontague]

27. There are folks who think humanity is, in and of itself, evil.

I'm not sure why they bother with politics or the internet, but there you go.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

14. I don't like mad (irresponsible) scientists

like the kind who want to drill holes into the core of the earth to see what's in there...
or the ones playing - er, experimenting with explosives or mega energy underground or under water, just to see what happens...

[Warren DeMontague]

15. Too bad you missed the "moon bombing" fun, around here.

Or... did you? :shrug:

[eowyn_of_rohan]

19. i missed that one

i'll look for the thread. Sounds GREAT! :crazy:

[eowyn_of_rohan]

20. I found it & Yes. Moon Bombing is precisely the stuff I am talking about! Get this:

"Twitter users expressed disappointment with the moon bombing, many expressing frustration that whey were not able to see the anticipated plume of moon debris."

Like a bunch of pre-adolescents

[Warren DeMontague]

21. Thought so.

Enjoy. :patriot:

[Warren DeMontague]

28. "bunch" is a funny word, isn't it?

It's, like, singular and plural at the same time. Weird.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

35. yes - rather borgish

[Warren DeMontague]

51. Now... is the borg a he or a she, I wonder?

Hmmm. Probably both.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

53. heavy

:eyes:

[Warren DeMontague]

59. Damned perceptive, I'd say.

But, once you know the signs to look for, it's obvious.

[Shrek]

45. Also a verb n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. I don't like one that rob graves and make monsters out of the body parts.

Or the ones that try to blow up metropolis with their electro-rays.

:crazy:

[Warren DeMontague]

23. Clones and Zombies...

Zombies and Clones...

[SemiCharmedQuark]

32. I dont like archaeologists that hand the Ark of the Covenant over to Nazis

[eowyn_of_rohan]

36. i understand but that is a different topic

this is about SCIENTISTS

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

38. No, it's about fictional characters.

There's no such thing as mad scientists.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

46. lol - I used to think that too

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

58. What happened?

Some sort of accident?

[Odin2005]

48. LOL, then I am probably evil incarnate to you.

:rofl:

[eowyn_of_rohan]

49. depends- what do you do?

[Odin2005]

52. I'm a biotech major!

:evilgrin:

[eowyn_of_rohan]

61. Well good luck, and I hope your research is used to good ends

I am sure that is your intention. I question whether the corporations who hire scientists or geologists have such good intentions. I wrote "mad scientists" for a bit of dark humor, which seems to have been lost on this crowd. But scientists and corporations work in tandem in many fields... such as biotech researchers and pharmaceutical companies, or geologists and the oil industry. Geologists may have warned BP there was a huge methane pocket in the location where Deepwater Horizon now hovers, but that didnt stop BP from drilling WAY too deep, as was warned against as well.

Just something to consider when you graduate and choose your clients or employers...

[Beringia]

16. It is a tool

and especially revered right now over other modes of understanding. Also there is a lot of mock science going on, not worth anything. But people are using it, because supposedly it has the emblem of carrying the truth.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. What other modes of understanding?

What mock science?

[Beringia]

29. Well

Haven't you heard of left brain, right brain, and that science is right brain. Mock Science? - there is lots of it. Make a phony assumption and spend tons of money trying to disprove it. You can get grants that way, or try to back up your decisions that way. I think it happens in situations where people are living off grants, or when there is no peer review.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

33. Right brain means intuition, rather than linear, "logical" thought.

Most key scientific advances are the result of intuition. "Hey, it just came to me, what if the speed of light is always the same and space and time deform to keep it constant?"

The right brain comes in later: "Well, let me do the calculations to see where this crazy idea takes me."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

40. I've heard lots of crap about left brain and right brain.

It's mostly a load of shit.

"Make a phony assumption and spend tons of money trying to disprove it. You can get grants that way, or try to back up your decisions that way. I think it happens in situations where people are living off grants, or when there is no peer review."

For example? People don't award grants unless the think somebody's got a hypothesis worth testing.

[Crystal Clarity]

22. Very Positive. ... But what is the point of this poll?

Is someone attacking science? And if so, why? Did I miss something? :shrug:

[BurtWorm]

31. No. It's just a random poll.

I was curious. I was looking at the BBC's RSS feed the other day and, as usual, I was instantly drawn to the science stories. I was reading about the European space program's GOCE satellite, which just mapped the relative gravity of the earth's surface and noticed that I was feeling something similar to what I felt as a boy reading Danny Dunn books or leafing through the National Geographic or Time-Life books, which was kind of a excitement over the lucidity of scientific observation. I was wondering what the feeling here was about science. Do others feel excited by it? Or did their school days ruin it for them? Or are they influenced by an anti-materialist ideology to mistrust it?

[Crystal Clarity]

34. Oh well in that case

I get it now. I too enjoy the sciences, some more then others, but I can't think of any I actually dislike. Based on this poll, it seems that we're in good company! :-)

[stuntcat]

24. my reservations are about how we've used it to rape the Earth and ..

and don't seem to be progressing fast enough with it to save ourselves from the Trash World we're making. It's very sad, considering the potential our species has. I mean some of us are fantastic, like angles, but as a mass we will fail.
Science is our hope,, but we are bald, conceited apes who don't know what we're doing.

[Warren DeMontague]

26. I think the universe is a fascinating place. I love learning about it. I love trying to find answers

to questions, understanding the how and why of the way things work, etc.

Science is all of that and more. To 'hate' science is to hate learning, to hate asking questions, to hate knowledge.

[JVS]

30. She blinded me with science!

[Robert DAH Bruce]

43. Me too!

What a bitch!

[KonaKane]

37. Science is necessary, as is spirituality. In fact, they are starting to

come into greater contact with each other lately in a fascinating bit of fusion.

"We're not here only to film how Alchemy is pursued in Ayurveda even in modern India, but also depict how Science and Spirituality coexist in synergy, whose best model is at BHU which houses Ayurveda and Sanskrit Vidya Dharma and Vigyan division side by side
- Hindustan Times"

http://iplextra.indiatimes.com/article/0dbI2Xt5Eo4Dj?q=India

[Taitertots]

42. I trust science because even if we are wrong there is a system to correct it

There isn't a scientist in the world who would disagree with the results from sound analysis.

[ismnotwasm]

44. Love it

It gives me a sense of wonder and joy and hope. It also gives me a practical time-line, important information on any given topic, also a way to understand limits and a way to try and strive to reach them.

[Odin2005]

47. Science = Reality. Religion = Fantasy.

[KonaKane]

50. That's funny.

Because no real scientist would claim they know "reality". Anybody who went through a philosophy class can see the problem with the claim you made.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

57. I actually know scientists.

They all actually study reality.

Fuck philosophy.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=247&topic_id=29178

[Odin2005]

62. I know, I was being simplistically epigraphic.

:P

[EstimatedProphet]

54. I'm a scientist. I leave the rest to you.

[Cleita]

55. Scientists don't cling to a theory once it's proven

wrong. They move on gathering more facts and evidence to either prove or disprove a new theory. If only politics and religion did the same.

[Regret My New Name]

56. I think it's evil and must be stopped at all costs.

SERIOUSLY!!!

*Also, I'd much rather read the responses to this poll at a place like freerepublic or rapture ready... Someone should post this question there :D