Patrick, I'm beginning to change my mind on this guy's posting; and I apologize to you for giving him credibility...I was thinking of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six--given how prescient his Debt of Honor was about the modus operandi of the 9-11 attacks...
At the time I wrote to you last night I hadn't seen the posts indicated he hijacked your ping list.
That's double plus ungood.
And the later posts here definitely smell of troll...
Cheers!
Right.
Reputation is critical for building support. Scientists, as a group, tend to think that LOGIC is the ruling and sole credible force, but there is much more to success than the ability to manipulate logic.
The scientific community's overall capabilities are declining drastically. Pick any field of science and it is clear that there are still only a few "greats", thousands of mediocres, and plenty of incompetents. The creation of fake science careers similar to "nutritional scientists" has done nothing to enhance the general public's trust in the accuracy and dependability of scientific research.
For example, ask any average 50 year old man or woman whether he should eat butter or margarine, and you will be subjected to a long lecture on "I don't believe any of that stuff; They don't know what they're talking about." He would also say the same thing about pollution, evolution, creation, weather, global temperature mapping, drugs and genetics.
You probably think it doesn't matter whether the general public has faith in scientists, but you're wrong. As the overall reputation of the community declines it will be harder to get grant money and endowments. More worrisome is the rate at which high school students are losing interest in careers in math or science.
Furthermore, when it really matters, like when a very large hurricane is really going to hit a very low lying city, public officials will not order evacuations, and citizens--who have learned not believe in the science of meteorology--WILL NOT EVACUATE.
When bird flu hits, many will opt not to get vaccinated, because they do not have faith in microbiology.
It has been an interesting experiment watching the so-called FR "scientists" following the social cues of their leader.
Actually, the entire thread has been no different than the original article about 500 scientists giving a standing ovation to an nutcase that wants to eliminate 90% of the human race to provide breeding grounds for his precious lizards.
Followers will be followers.
Sheep will be sheep.
It's just a shame to see "logical" thinkers not really thinking at all.