Sunday, December 20, 2009

More poetry, please

In case you missed Christopher Cokinos' Op-Ed piece in the LAT,
Climate scientists could learn something from U.S. poet.

He makes a good point. When scientists talk to one another, we are poking at the data and the hypotheses asking, "Have we missed anything?" We are looking for errors and ambiguities so that we can stamp them out.

The majority of people don't think the same way. It's hard to remember that, when we talk to other scientists all day.

But, I don't fully agree with him. Science is a great detective story. I saw that, even as a child. I don't feel the need to beat other people over the head with that analogy.

Isn't it obvious?

1 comment:

  1. "Science is a great detective story."

    One of the things I've said for years is that if you can tell a good story at the end of the (metaphorical) day, then you know your job is interesting. There's a lot of good stories to tell in science and engineering.

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