Absolutely do challenge scientists, no matter your qualification. Sometimes (granted, that's rare) you might be right.
Just do it in a respectful way and make sure you check your arguments.
Also, while scientists are generally more educated overall, they can absolutely be foolish in what falls outside their scope. "I'm a scientist" is not a valid argument.
My favorite example is Gregor Mendel. He wasn't a scientist. He was a monk with no degrees of any kind. But he did science—legendary science—which means he actually was a scientist.
To my understanding, he also very conveniently fudged a few of his experiments so that they would align with his other ones and ended up embellishing his final result,
but also if he hadn’t done that he wouldn’t have discovered Mendelian genes? Not sure if that’s a win or a loss for science.
As a young scientist who's yet to gain PhD:
Absolutely do challenge scientists, no matter your qualification. Sometimes (granted, that's rare) you might be right.
Just do it in a respectful way and make sure you check your arguments.
Also, while scientists are generally more educated overall, they can absolutely be foolish in what falls outside their scope. "I'm a scientist" is not a valid argument.
And yes, always check for a conflict of interest.
My favorite example is Gregor Mendel. He wasn't a scientist. He was a monk with no degrees of any kind. But he did science—legendary science—which means he actually was a scientist.
I'd say he was a scientist - just not part of academia :)
We have to separate science and academia, especially when we talk about the past.
To my understanding, he also very conveniently fudged a few of his experiments so that they would align with his other ones and ended up embellishing his final result, but also if he hadn’t done that he wouldn’t have discovered Mendelian genes? Not sure if that’s a win or a loss for science.
damn never meet ur heroes