Respectful Insolence

How do you know when you’re doing science wrong?

Posted by Orac on May 28, 2008
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Easy:

i-3a1cda02063e65e196a94fc792438194-Science.jpg

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Comments

  1. #1 Fred
    May 28, 2008

    “If you can’t accept that you’re mistaken, you’re not doing it at all.”

    I’m definitely going to reuse this line. It’s so succinct and accurate, I love it.

  2. #2 Uncle Dave
    May 28, 2008

    Very good.

    Is this from
    http://www.despair.com/

  3. #3 Craig
    May 28, 2008

    I love demotivators. I think my particular favorite is:
    “Compromise: Let’s agree to respect each other’s views, no matter how wrong yours may be.”

  4. #4 JonMcSkeptic
    May 28, 2008

    That?
    Is priceless.

  5. #5 George Picoulas
    May 28, 2008

    It’s not only of science; it’s life too.

  6. #6 DLC
    May 28, 2008

    good one.
    allow me to add in:
    “if your hypothesis can’t be falsified, you’re doing it wrong.”
    and
    “If all you have is a complaint that something can’t be right because your beliefs say it can’t, you’re not doing science.”

  7. #7 Orac
    May 28, 2008

    “if your hypothesis can’t be falsified, you’re doing it wrong.”

    Yeah, they missed that one.

  8. #8 Kassiane
    May 29, 2008

    Ooh. That looks like desktop wallpaper.

  9. #9 Bob O'H
    May 29, 2008

    I think DLC is trying to stoke up a philosophical fight.

    In practice, it is difficult to falsify any one hypothesis, because there are a great many auxiliary hypotheses that could also be wrong.

    They also missed “Science. It’s just lots of balls joined together with sticks”.

  10. #10 DLC
    May 29, 2008

    Bob O’H: no, not really. I’m no philosopher.

  11. #11 has
    May 29, 2008

    Uncle Dave: Cheers, though credits where due: inspiration was provided by the ‘How does a scientist or doctor become a crank?‘ thread, the image was taken from the Materials Research Society’s desktop wallpapers page, with final assembly courtesy of Big Huge Labs.

    DLC: Gonna need a bigger poster generator. :)

  12. #12 Mary Parsons
    May 29, 2008

    Classic. h/t to LBRB, I was pointed towards this excellent passage from Prometheus:

    One of the problems with getting emotionally involved with a scientific hypothesis is that they are notoriously dangerous things to love. Hypotheses don’t care how much you love them or depend on them – they live or die by the data. And holding on to a dead hypothesis is as pointless (and creepy) as holding on to a dead cat or dog. Once they die, it’s time to bury them and move on.

    That would make a good poster.

  13. #13 Anthony
    May 30, 2008

    Neat site…

    http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/output/deck5322711.jpg

  14. #14 Uncle Dave
    May 30, 2008

    has;
    Thanks for the link!
    Actually I am a ASM member, thanks for the MRS link as well.

  15. #15 SM
    May 30, 2008

    Lately I seem to have a lot of conversations in which I use the sentence, “The mark of a true scientist, or a true scholar, is that they like being proven wrong almost as much as they like being proven right, provided you do it in an interesting way.”

    M

  16. #16 Roo
    June 1, 2008

    If your hypothesis can’t be falsified, you’re not just doing it wrong, you’re doing it at all.