Science's growing pains

[Nearly Sane]

Interesting piece


http://tinyurl.com/jgk2rpm

[Sriram]

Good one NS. Especially....

'Given the public awareness that science can be low-quality or corrupted, that whole fields can be misdirected for decades (see nutrition, on cholesterol and sugar), and that some basic fields must progress in the absence of any prospect of empirical testing (string theory), the naïve realism of previous generations becomes quite Medieval in its irrelevance to present realities.'

Agree entirely!
 

[Sriram]

Scientists suddenly seem to be getting introspective with some reality check.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/16/europe/human-space-missions/index.html

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Britain's leading astronomer has called on Europe to end human spaceflights because he says they are no longer cost effective or a benefit to science.

"The practical case for sending people into space is getting weaker as robots are getting better," Rees said.

"The space station altogether has cost a twelve-figure sum because we've been up there for a long time and I don't think anyone could justify it to science since man space exploration has slowed down," Rees said.

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