SCI-ART LAB

Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication

Several of my scientist friends from all parts of the world, not only from this region, are complaining. They are facing severe harassment. 

Because people are throwing pseudo-science, misinformation, distortions, spins, falsehood, false and strange perceptions at them left , right, top and bottom. "We have to stop our work and arm ourselves with guns and go out to deal with them. This is affecting our work severely and draining us", they told me. Above that people are demanding that the scientists answer all their Qs pertaining to these trash papers. 

I am not surprised. Even I am facing this situation.  For each statement I make, I have to deal with hundreds of false papers and claims people bring before me. As it is our minds are fully occupied. If we are asked to deal with this trash  over and above it, we  get drained mentally and might not do our work properly. Scientists want to get out of this dirty business. People, please, please don't do that to science and progress.

I know  you are not  doing that deliberately. Or is it? 

Yes, I understand, for each genuine science paper brought into the public domain, ten pseudo-scientific papers are getting published. Misinformation is drowning genuine science. Some people are getting confused. Some are moving away from science unable to bear all this false information overload. Some are innocently spreading it too.

What is worse is people who practice and transmit trash science are using it to their advantage cheating people in the process. Religious leaders are using creationism to push forward their agenda and control their followers, astrologers and DMIT people are using science to authenticate their claims, hoodwink people  and make money. While these pseudo-science peddlers are raking in money and rolling in riches, scientists all over the world are actually  begging for funds!

And media and journalists are fanning these flames! In the name of  showing  a balanced spectrum of views, they are merrily disseminating  falsehood along with facts confusing people more. They never try to miss the chance to exhibit their bothsiderism, even if that denotes faulty perception when you take science into account! Like Aristotle said, 'the worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal'. Journalists, answer me, how can pseudo-science be made equal to science and can be given the same space as science occupies?

How can we tackle this problem? 

We are doing our best to deal with this pseudo-science despite the  all the Himalayas we have to climb and Pacifics we have to cross in the process. But we request the man on the street too to co-operate with us in this fight to reduce our burden.  

Before approaching or confronting a scientist with some information,   please try to identify what science is and what thrash is. How? Like this: Please read what I wrote here:

how-to-trust-science-stories-a-guide-to-common-man

here:

be-alert-pseudo-science-and-anti-science-are-on-prowl

and several other articles I posted here. Please do! Then try to differentiate between genuine science and pseudo-things before asking questions. If you find any difficulty in understanding the process, please contact me and ask me for clarification. 

I know it takes some effort and time but it is worth trying to get genuine knowledge and get benefited by it and avoid getting cheated. What is more important is you will help save precious time of the scientists. You can undoubtedly ask experts Qs but only genuine and limited ones, that are highly relevant.  

Help us fight this menace in an effective way, not in a half-hearted, charged atmosphere. 

And go question and challenge people who are breeding and cultivating this muck and make them backtrack to help science and scientists.

Thank you.

Views: 111

Replies to This Discussion

36

RSS

© 2024   Created by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service