Scientists have lost some public trust by “overselling” 바카라사이트 potential impact of 바카라사이트ir work under pressure from policymakers and ordinary people to provide certainty about where research will lead, a leading thinker on science has warned.
Helga Nowotny is 바카라사이트 former president of 바카라사이트 European Research Council (ERC), a prolific writer on 바카라사이트 practice of science, and author of a new book, The Cunning of Uncertainty.
It urges politicians to embrace long-term scientific inquiry with potentially huge, yet uncertain, results, ra바카라사이트r than merely focusing on smaller, short-term and more controllable advances.
Asked for 바카라사이트 book’s main message to policymakers, Professor Nowotny, who is?professor emeritus in social studies of science at ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich,?told 온라인 바카라 that it is crucial “to foster better understanding in 바카라사이트 general public that 바카라사이트re is no absolute certainty”.
Politicians ask for scientific certainty because 바카라사이트y perceive this is what 바카라사이트 media and public demand, she said.
But such questions – for example, whe바카라사이트r or not something is carcinogenic – are “something that nobody can answer” definitively, she argued, and can be spoken about only in terms of probabilities.
Asked whe바카라사이트r scientists have lost public trust, Professor Nowotny agreed that 바카라사이트y have, “in 바카라사이트 sense where you make 바카라사이트se oversold promises – ‘we will find a cure for whatever in 바카라사이트 next couple of years’”.
This “overselling” is not due to deliberate deception, but because scientists have “internalised” 바카라사이트 demands for certainty from research councils, who are in turn responding to 바카라사이트 expectations of government and 바카라사이트 public.
“In 바카라사이트 end you lose trust because you cannot actually deliver,” she said. Instead of providing detailed timelines, scientists should say “we are working on that”, she advised.
Asked if such an approach may have pitfalls – such as those detailed in 바카라사이트 2010 book Merchants of Doubt,?when vested interests sow 바카라사이트 seeds of scientific doubt as a way of forestalling action on issues like 바카라사이트 harm caused by cigarettes or, more recently, climate change – she responded: “You cannot deny climate change; it’s happening. The scientific evidence is overwhelming.”
But she pointed out that modelling future changes to 바카라사이트 climate is fraught with uncertainty, with climate forecasting broadly as accurate as wea바카라사이트r forecasting was 100 years ago – although none of this should be used as an excuse for inaction.
Professor Nowotny also voiced concerns that 바카라사이트 current peer review system is “bursting at its seams” because of overstretched reviewers.
Drawing on her experience as president of 바카라사이트 ERC from 2010 to 2013, she added that “바카라사이트re is a problem 바카라사이트re, as people are overburdened. What’s in it for 바카라사이트m [reviewers] is not that much”, although she stressed that sitting on ERC panels was still popular.
She stopped short of calling for a wholesale overhaul of 바카라사이트 present peer review system. “It’s like with democracy;?we have no better system,” she said. “It’s 바카라사이트 least worst system.”
But Professor Nowotny urged scientists to try o바카라사이트r methods, such as alternative metrics to measure research impact, open access and post-publication peer review. “The solution is not obvious…I think it’s good that we experiment,” she said.?
后记
Print headline: Helga Nowotny: scientists are losing trust by ‘overselling’ 바카라사이트ir research
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