What happened to science.

Okay guys, maybe it's just me, but I have noticed that there has been decline in scientific threads, and an increase in non-scientif theoretical topics.

Not that I have a problem with it,
it's just that when i have question relating to a more scientific perspective,
I used to be able to come here and within a few hours have alot of my questions sorted out.

But now it seems to me that without a core of scientific minds,
able to actually bring the real science to a given thread
it doesn't seem to get the best possible results.

Maybe the scientist all left for another site, if so please point me in the right direction.

Thanks

Alot of those threads where serious, while today this board has gotten very troll obsessed.

I know what you mean, there used to be quite a few good threads here, and people used to spend alot of time designing there threads, and it was a good read.

reply to post by KingAtlas


I have also noticed a lack of well thought out answers. There seems to be a race to get a post up without actually doing the thinking and research to get at the truth.

I spent the last year or two hanging out at Watts Up With That where several of the discussions were a bit over my head. I have a science degree but when the PhD physicists or the Statisticians start high level discussions they left me in the dust.

By contrast I find ATS discussions often have very little science backing the opinions.

reply to post by KingAtlas


Science has become compartmentalized. You can be an expert in one field and be totally ignorant in another.

reply to post by KingAtlas


Bannings. Thats what happened. And one very unfortunate death.

MOTF!

reply to post by crimvelvet


Thanks for the site C, interesting find.

I can't wait to get into the meat there.


Also, does anyone remember phage, i miss that guy,
he was one of the best minds on ATS, even if we didn't always agree haha

--Okay found the thread on phages absence. My apologies.

Originally posted by KingAtlas
--Okay found the thread on phages absence. My apologies.

Would you mind posting the link to that thread? I did a little searching without luck but if you've already got the link it might save me a lot of time.

I think it's on topic to the subject of your thread since Phage was a prolific and valued contributor to ATS.

The science threads don't get many responses on ATS, I guess since it's a conspiracy site, it makes sense the focus would be on conspiracies and not science. But it was still nice to have Phage around to straighten out some of our misconceptions.

Originally posted by Arbitrageur

Originally posted by KingAtlas
--Okay found the thread on phages absence. My apologies.

Would you mind posting the link to that thread? I did a little searching without luck but if you've already got the link it might save me a lot of time.

I think it's on topic to the subject of your thread since Phage was a prolific and valued contributor to ATS.

The science threads don't get many responses on ATS, I guess since it's a conspiracy site, it makes sense the focus would be on conspiracies and not science. But it was still nice to have Phage around to straighten out some of our misconceptions.

Here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

About the topic at hand... I don't know, i also miss the more "educated" posts....
The level of ignorance is amazing, I despise the attitude of having "theories" about everything without knowing a thing about anything... Pretty annoying...

reply to post by KingAtlas


I haven't noticed a difference. I just mostly left because I got bored.

reply to post by mdiinican


I'm more interested in the fields of science like Cosmology, Astronomy, and Astrophysics so I tend to just stay in the bubble that is the Space Exploration forum for the most part haha. I was drawn away from this forum because i had seen countless threads about psuedoscience, perpetual motion machines, and the rampant cynicism and paranoia that would plague the real science threads.

What does a geologist know about astronomy? What does a astronomer know about geology? Is there some great understanding between the two or do they just accept each others hypothisis?

reply to post by KingAtlas


The root meaning of the Word SCIENCE is to know knowledge.

Most of what we do daily is science as you have to know the knowledge of how to drive a car to operate it with out causing harm to yourself and others.

You have to know the knowledge of how to operate your computer to post your question.

So what you ask is why are we not having a lot of discussion about tech, medical, what kind of science are you wishing to discuss.

As for trolls most people that disagree are considered trolls or if they offer a different way to look at a particular subject based upon a way that does not fit the so called popular belief they are trolls

guess some of them went to this rabbit hole.

Originally posted by Beavis
What does a geologist know about astronomy? What does a astronomer know about geology?

It depends on the individual, and the circumstances. Dr Robert Hazen, is a professor of Earth sciences, but astrobiology is one of his research areas.

The field of exobiology is somewhat cross-disciplinary since it requires an application of astronomy, biology, geology, astronomy, and other disciplines. In fact just to demonstrate how well-rounded this guy is, look at the range of topics covered in just one of his lecture series:

www.teach12.com...

Joy of Science
1. The Nature of Science (info)
2. The Scientific Method
3. The Ordered Universe
4. Celestial and Terrestrial Mechanics
5. Newton's Laws of Motion
6. Universal Gravitation
7. The Nature of Energy
8. The First Law of Thermodynamics
9. The Second Law of Thermodynamics
10. Entropy
11. Magnetism and Static Electricity
12. Electricity
13. Electromagnetism
14. The Electromagnetic Spectrum, Part I
15. The Electromagnetic Spectrum, Part II
16. Relativity
17. Atoms
18. The Bohr Atom
19. The Quantum World
20. The Periodic Table of the Elements
21. Introduction to Chemistry
22. The Chemistry of Carbon
23. States of Matter and Changes of State
24. Phase Transformations and Chemical Reactions
25. Properties of Materials
26. Semiconductors and Modern Microelectronics
27. Isotopes and Radioactivity
28. Nuclear Fission and Fusion Reactions
29. Astronomy
30. The Life Cycle of Stars
31. Edwin Hubble and the Discovery of Galaxies
32. The Big Bang
33. The Ultimate Structure of Matter
34. The Nebular Hypothesis
35. The Solar System
36. The Earth as a Planet
37. The Dynamic Earth
38. The Plate Tectonics Revolution
39. Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Plate Motions Today
40. Earth Cycles—Water
41. The Atmospheric Cycle
42. The Rock Cycle
43. What Is Life?
44. Strategies of Life
45. Life's Molecular Building Blocks
46. Proteins
47. Cells—The Chemical Factories of Life
48. Gregor Mendel, Founder of Genetics
49. The Discovery of DNA
50. The Genetic Code
51. Reading the Genetic Code
52. Genetic Engineering
53. Cancer and Other Genetic Diseases
54. The Chemical Evolution of Life
55. Biological Evolution—A Unifying Theme of Biology
56. The Fact of Evolution—The Fossil Record
57. Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection
58. Ecosystems and the Law of Unintended Consequences
59. The Ozone Hole, Acid Rain, and the Greenhouse Effect
60. Science, the Endless Frontier

Astronomy is covered in lectures 29-32 and geology in 37-42, plus look at how many other science topics he teaches also, and he knows an amazing amount about each topic.

However I guess you could say he's not a leading edge researcher in some of these fields, as he focuses on about 8 areas listed on his bio. But it's absolutely amazing how much he knows about many of these areas. He's not just BSing his way through the 60 lectures on different topics, you can tell he really knows the material.

In contrast to him, I've seen other professors with a great knowledge in the area of their PhD have difficulty with subjects outside their field of expertise, so it really depends on the individual.

Originally posted by drakus
Here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thanks for the link. Phage is also a multi-disciplined guy who added a lot to the science threads here, so it's a big loss to ATS to not have him posting here. Some of the commenters said he'd just google the subject and post what he googled, but that's not exactly true. He had an ability many ATSers lack to sort out fact from fiction in the Google results, so other people could google the same topic and post fiction and Phage would post the fact. An example of this is the Piri Reis map, I posted a false claim some website made about the map showing Antarctica, and Phage posted another source which debunked that claim and demonstrated it didn't really show Antarctica. While I was a little embarrassed about posting the bad google result, I really appreciated being corrected. (Not everyone appreciates being corrected though). And he was right about 98% of the time which probably exceeds my own percentage and just about any other ATSer I can think of.

There was sort of a skeptic culling by ATS in November 2010 and I noticed it wasn't long after that Phage and some other skeptics stopped posting. So I suspect that has something to do with the question asked in the OP about why there's been a decline in the science forum.

reply to post by KingAtlas


I think some of the issue is that the site is so much bigger than before.

The needles are still there, but the haystack is larger.

The advancement of knowledge within mankind ~ and there has been a huge leap forward, comes with people now starving for more. They want solutions for every discomfort in their lives.

As with any search for proof of real truth, science isn’t supplying definitive answers often enough to satisfy the cravings of the masses. The work is great, and the workers are few.

There is a lot of confusion in this world. I am hoping people will calm down and take a deep breath.

Originally posted by Beavis
What does a geologist know about astronomy? What does a astronomer know about geology? Is there some great understanding between the two or do they just accept each others hypothisis?

edit on 4-2-2011 by Beavis because: (no reason given)

It is unfortunately yet true that most people who study science fall into a very ignorant niche and tend to ignore other disciplines. I think there's a historical context to be considered though. Over the last century, a great deal has happened in the areas of biology, physics and chemistry. Comparing now to say, 50 years ago, it is a much more complicated task to fully understand even the breadth of your own speciality, let alone that of others. I am an organic chemist myself and I can definitely say that I do not know nearly as much as I would like to outside of my area. I spend a considerable part of my time on here and on other more science based forums (science forums network is a favourite) reading people's posts, learning and doing external research as I do so.

Having said that, there are a number of scientists out there in the world with a considerably broad, multidisciplinary bank of knowledge. I find that a lot of these people tend to follow the old mantra, where scientists were in fact considered philosophers of the natural world. It's often in my experience that people don't spend enough thinking outside of the common mindset of science and consider things from all angles before they accept them as fact - this never used to be the case in the days of Einstein and it often leads to a lot of boring and repetitive science.