Re: Are There Any Actual Physicists/Scientists Here?

Paul Stowe wrote:

On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 12:40:36 +1000, Timo Nieminen <timo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


On Thu, 11 Aug 2005, Paul Stowe wrote:


But, science & its method is self correcting and
is not threaten by ideas, period.

Not even by dogmatism? 


 Dogmatism, like politics, is a corruption in the scientific
 process.  But I'd have to say no, it slows but will not stop
 the scientific process.  Planck got that part right...

Paul Stowe


Dogmatism is more general and insidious than that- Dogmatism not only given special status to certain ideas, it also influences what areas of scientific inquiry are investigated: consider the course content of the majority of undergraduate Physics curricula. All students are to learn how to solve a set number of physical or abstract systems, and those specific systems have remained unchanged in more than 60 years.

It is clear that physics curricula has not kept pace with new research. New concepts are not being introduced, or introduced slowly, in fits and starts.

And in terms of funded research: who funds it? Peer review drives the process. How to peers evaluate proposals? Based on what they (the reviewers) consider to be useful and do-able. How do they come to their conclusions? Based on their subjective point of view: to be sure, multiple reviwers and checks-and-balances exist, but the point is the same: research gets funded if similar research has been funded before.

--
Andrew Resnick, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Case Western Reserve University
.