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Losing Objectivity

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Author Topic:   Losing Objectivity
Blue Jay
Member (Idle past 2724 days)
Posts: 2843
From: You couldn't pronounce it with your mouthparts
Joined: 02-04-2008

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Message 10 of 28 (510685)
06-02-2009 1:59 PM 		Reply to: Message 6 by Taz
06-01-2009 5:00 PM

Hi, Taz.
​
Taz writes:
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The point is I've noticed all my life that when an elderly has made up his/her mind about something, it requires an act of god to change his/her mind. It doesn't matter how logical your position is or how much evidence you have, they seem most reluctant to be swayed.
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Sometimes I'm like that, and I'm only 26.
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-Bluejay (a.k.a. Mantis, Thylacosmilus)
​
Darwin loves you.
This message is a reply to:
 Message 6 by Taz, posted 06-01-2009 5:00 PM Taz has not replied
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 Message 11 by bluescat48, posted 06-02-2009 2:17 PM Blue Jay has seen this message but not replied
  
Blue Jay
Member (Idle past 2724 days)
Posts: 2843
From: You couldn't pronounce it with your mouthparts
Joined: 02-04-2008

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Message 16 of 28 (604000)
02-09-2011 2:35 PM 		Reply to: Message 14 by ringo
02-09-2011 2:15 PM

Re: Keep up your rationality by being... irrational?
Hi, Ringo.
​
ringo writes:
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As I see it, it's a mistake to think of objectivity as an individual endeavour.
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I completely agree. As an example, I offer science.
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Individual scientists are brutal, arrogant people who generally always have an agenda to push, so anybody who thinks objectivity can be found at the level of individual scientists is a blissfully ignorant sap. "Big name" scientists become big name scientists by having a line to sell, not by doing good science.
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However, in the case of science, the community is not just the sum of its parts, and the collective activities of the community as a whole tend to approximate objectivity much better, even though none of the parts accomplish this.
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I'm a rather sensitive person when it comes to things like this, so I have to keep reminding myself that, in the long run, science will not suffer just because, e.g., some jackass editor insists that I can't say what everybody else who's read the manuscript---as well as the entire body of existing literature on the subject---agrees I can justify with my data.
​
-Bluejay (a.k.a. Mantis, Thylacosmilus)
​
Darwin loves you.
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