randman writes:
Science may not suppossed to work by cabals or group-think, but I would argue it largely does.
In whatever way science does actually operate, like all else that people do it is a human activity. This is true whether the science is carried out by creationists or scientists. The people involved are subject to all the weaknesses and foibles to which the human flesh is heir.
At heart what gives science an advantage over any other approach to knowledge is that it is based upon evidence from the real world. Any chicanery committed in the study of a real world phenomenon will eventually come to light, because other scientists can study the same phenomena and find out what is really so. It is only study not based upon the real world that has no means of detection and correction.
Even science misdirected by government can not permanently stop scientific progress, as your mention of the carbohydrate thread makes clear. Lysenkoism in the USSR is another example of government-driven scientific consensus eventually being discarded.
The goal of any scientist is to bring theory into as close agreement with the real world as possible. I'm sure we can assume that the scientists meeting in Altenberg will keep this goal firmly in mind.
--Percy