Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Merely an evolved practice
Verbal behavior in which the reinforcement is thoroughly generalized, and the control of which therefore rests almost exclusively with the environment, is developed by the methods of science. The reinforcing practices of the scientific community thoroughly suppress the special interests of the speaker. This is not necessarily a sign of superior ethics in scientists; it is merely an evolved practice which has proved to be particularly valuable.
B. F. Skinner - Verbal Behavior (1957)
Suppose we go back a few decades. If we look around, we may be lucky enough to spot a small scientific community producing work of interesting but limited scientific value. A dusty little backwater where long-term climate changes are studiously analysed, reams of data are collected, obscure papers written, published and read by other obscure practitioners.
Moving on, suppose there is a move to supplant the limited scientific value of this little backwater by vastly greater political value. Nothing more is required to evolve our dusty little backwater into something else, something with far greater overall value. On that it thrives as it never did before.
Our once dusty little backwater attracts more students, more scientists and more money because of its enhanced value as a pseudoscientific political activity. That’s it. No longer an obscure scientific endeavour, but a high-status political endeavour. And then? Then it attracts people with a political disposition.
Soon enough, the dusty old backwater is extinct, its niche gone, scientifically dead. Politically it thrives, but there is a reason why it now prospers - it is merely an evolved practice which has now proved to be particularly valuable.
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4 comments:
We end up with an odd situation where the politicians who have co-opted the scientific endeavours of the "dusty little backwater" have got a completely different rationale from the mass of political supporters. They must know that the new set of scientists are being played for fools and are there to lend weight to their project. But the people who support those politicians - all the concerned public pontificators and local busybodies - actually believe in the science. Which, as we know, is settled.
That's about the size of it. I read some of the early Global Warming papers. They were dud science by dud scientists with dud degrees in dud subjects from dud universities. But once there was money in it, intelligent crooks piled in.
In the climategate emails you can see traces of the earlier attitudes still trying to cling to existence. (Which is why I tend to assume that those emails were leaked rather than hacked.)
Beautifully and concisely put AK. Exactly what has happened.
Sam - yes, I think we have to remain sane by assuming that those politicians understand their own games. It's almost like a competition where we have to be as cynical as they are if we are to have any chance of matching them in the political game. Otherwise we lose.
dearieme - yes you can see traces of earlier attitudes in the climategate emails. They weren't very good at what they did, but it was a career, they rather enjoyed it and did have certain shaky procedural standards even if those standards wouldn't withstand competent outside scrutiny.
Tammly - thanks, it's a pity younger activists never saw the flaky birth of it all, including the global cooling scares.
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