An article in the Guardian today set me wondering. It reports a 'a rare
example of a science writer biting the hand that feeds him'. OK, the science
writer in question, New Scientist veteran, Nigel Calder, was promoting his
book _Magic Universe: The Oxford Guide to Modern Science_, and he may well
have been thinking that a bit of controversy might lift it a little above
its Amazon.co.uk sales rank of 2339. Still, he did apparently criticise
scientists for complacent failure to countenance the fact that 'what [they]
say now is likely to be false'. He also attacked peer review, describing it
as 'self-appointed clubs that claim to be experts' and actually perpetrate
'systematic resistance to discovery'. Pretty stern stuff.
What this made me wonder was, How rare is it for science communicators to
bite the hand? And if it is rare, why so? Are science communicators
cheerleaders by and large?
Chris
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,9830,1230197,00.html
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