Notes:   (Excerpt)

"Science doesn’t work despite scientists being asses. Science works, to at least some extent, because scientists are asses. Bickering and backstabbing are essential elements of the process. Haven’t any of these guys ever heard of “peer review”? . . .

The fact is, we are all humans; and humans come with dogma as standard equipment. . . The best we can do— the best science can do— is make sure that at least, we get to choose among competing biases.

That’s how science works.   It’s not a hippie love-in; it’s rugby.  Every time you put out a paper, the guy you pissed off at last year’s Houston conference is gonna be laying in wait.  Every time you think you’ve made a breakthrough, that asshole supervisor who told you you needed more data will be standing ready to shoot it down. . .

This is how it works: you put your model out there in the coliseum, and a bunch of guys in white coats kick the shit out of it.  If it’s still alive when the dust clears, your brainchild receives conditional acceptance.  It does not get rejected.  This time. . . .

Science is so powerful that it drags us kicking and screaming towards the truth despite our best efforts to avoid it. And it does that at least partly fueled by our pettiness and our rivalries. . . 

Keep that in mind the next time some blogger decries the ill manners of a bunch of climate scientists under continual siege by forces with vastly deeper pockets and much louder megaphones.

Bite Source: Peter Watts

Image Source: here