More Transparency in Science
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
This is a reprint of my reply to Governor Palin in response to her recent Facebook comment on global warming, and some of the questionable environmental science practices recently exposed by the media. The Global Temperatures plot from Wikipedia speaks volumes. Think about it.
Dear Governor Palin,
History shows it can sometimes be impossible to keep politics and bias out of science. Sir Isaac Newton was popular with his contemporaries, yet he once nearly lost his head because his ideas collided with the politics of a few important people. However, that collision sparked the “Scientific Method”, a smart effective tool to promote transparency and honesty.
Given the plethora of media channels we have today, we have an unprecedented opportunity to make “pop” science more transparent and honest. To list just a few: stream real-time data for everyone to see and verify – no lost emails or falsified data. Create “hyper-forums” to scrutinize scientific proposals, grants, findings, etc. We place the burden on the publisher to communicate ideas in compelling ways and empower the tax payer to provide balance, and help separate the sense from the nonsense.
I can provide more detailed examples if you want.
[Sincerely,
Ron Sheely]
