tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6976144462093297473.post8332928741318162968..comments2024-03-26T19:10:00.791-04:00Comments on West Coast Stat Views (on Observational Epidemiology and more): Perhaps claims that are almost certainly false should be fact-checked more thoroughlyJosephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10760453165301871031noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6976144462093297473.post-1232853588634149872014-12-18T17:24:40.841-05:002014-12-18T17:24:40.841-05:00Mark:
Yes, a good article could be written about ...Mark:<br /><br />Yes, a good article could be written about the history of respectable scientists' belief in ESP. There's the Turing quote that I featured on the blog not long ago, there's Heinlein and Campbell (not scientists, of course, but science fiction writers and editors who, I think, considered themselves to be hard-headed and scientific), there's all the fervent <em>anti</em>-ESP writings of Martin Gardner and others, which in retrospect seems a bit over-the-top, as, from a modern perspective, traditional ESP just seems more like a joke. <br /><br />Also, Martians, Noah's Ark, etc . . . it just seems that, in some ways, scientific thinking had not fully suffused our culture. Someone like Feynman, with his aggressively scientific attitude to the world, was still somewhat of an exception, and there was a lot more deference to traditional beliefs.<br /><br />Sure, there are battles now about creationism and climate denialism, but these seem more to be <em>political</em> rather than scientific battles.<br /><br />My thoughts on all this remain incoherent but I think there's something here worth thinking about.Andrew Gelmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02715992780769751789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6976144462093297473.post-54514696324259686422014-12-18T06:26:54.398-05:002014-12-18T06:26:54.398-05:00Andrew,
Yes, "Chariots of the Gods" doe...Andrew,<br /><br />Yes, "Chariots of the Gods" does undercut a lot of good-old-days arguments. It is also true that any argument about journalistic trends won't be very robust when we start playing with definitions and metrics, but with all that in mind...<br /><br />1. Between the internet and advances in communication, the time and effort required to fact-check has dropped by one, maybe two orders of magnitude in the past few decades while accuracy has not improved and may have gotten worse.<br /><br />2. It's true that the Seventies saw a lot of pseudo-science but<br /><br />A, It appears to have been a spike largely limited to that decade (it's worth noting that Sunn Classic went out of the documentary business on 1979)<br /><br />B, I believe that the respectable press usually distanced itself from these stories <br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_and_Back#Critical_and_box_office_reception<br /><br />C. In the less respectable media where "In search of" originally flourished, this sort of thing seems to be making a comeback (as I discovered when my gym added the Discovery Channel to the TVs on the ellipticals).<br /><br />D. It should also be noted that it was easier to find actual scientists in the Twentieth Century who were either open to the paranormal (Einstein -- Mental Radio) or were true believers (Jack Parsons -- you wouldn't believe me if I told you). Part of this can be attributed to their having less data than we have now and part to the anything-is-possible feel of the times.<br /><br />You are right to point out that there have always been journalists who swallowed hoaxes and unbelievable claims but I would argue there has been a real decline in standards over the past thirty years, though it may not have been as clear or linear as I sometimes think of it.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14705408455380402571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6976144462093297473.post-68120544770200493472014-12-17T23:51:42.365-05:002014-12-17T23:51:42.365-05:00Mark:
It does seem like journalists are willing t...Mark:<br /><br />It does seem like journalists are willing to run with just about anything. But is the situation really worse now than it was a few decades ago? Back in the 70s, I remember a general sort of background level of completely bogus news stories on topics such as the Bermuda Triangle, ancient astronauts, the discovery of Noah's Ark, car engines that got 200 miles per gallon, etc. And I think that kind of story would be taken less seriously nowadays.<br /><br />But I could be wrong, this is just my general impression.Andrew Gelmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02715992780769751789noreply@blogger.com