🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1io07mINNt89@iskut.ucs.ubc.ca>, ramsay@math.ubc.ca (Keith Ramsay) writes in part:
|> In article <1993Jan8.194315.20491@netcom.com> noring@netcom.com 
|> (Jon Noring) writes:
|> |In a private e-mail communication with a physicist e-mail friend who knows his
|> |quantum mechanics and does not totally agree with Sarfatti, he stated that
|> |some of these other physicists are just jealous, closed-minded, and react the
|> |way they do because they are afraid that the ramifications of Sarfatti's
|> |research would undermine many of the "paradigms" (sorry Russell) that they
|> |hold dearly (after all, if you've devoted 20+ years of your life with one set
|> |of "paradigms" (sorry Russell), it is emotionally difficult, and for some,
|> |impossible, to change course in mid-life.)
|> 
|> Speaking as an participant in some of these discussions, I feel
|> obliged to say that I don't find this very credible. It is true that
|> the social phenomenon you describe can occur. Having examined the
|> physics and participated in part of the discussion, however, I don't
|> believe that it is what has been taking place in sci.physics.

And so on from quite a few folks.

Which is more reasonable:  that a whole bunch of competant people are 
ALL so blindly prejudiced that they can't see the merit of one guy's
view, or that Sarfatti is so in love with his own ideas that he is
blind to their goofiness.  Any argument that is posed to support the
claim that conventional scientist X is blinded by his social environment
applies just as strongly when applied to Sarfatti himself.

IMHO, this entire line of argument is pointless.  The alleged sociology
of science will never advance science one kuhnometer[1].  Sarfattis
ideas may have no merit, some merit, or a lot of merit, but calling upon
the (empircally shaky and logically faulty) pop social psychology of 
"science" is irrelevant to that evaluation.  Can we please save the 
bandwidth and end this ramble.

-- 
  Robert E. McGrath
  Urbana Illinois
  mcgrath@cs.uiuc.edu

[1]  The kuhnometer the ISO (the I Said-sO) standard unit of paradigm shift, 
Newton to Einstein ~= 10^100 kuhnometers.