[meteorite-list] Family Claims Meteorite FellInTheirCourtyardinIndia

From: Chris Peterson <clp_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2007 17:50:55 -0600
Message-ID: <003c01c7dae0$27604ae0$a239010a_at_bellatrix>

Hi Svend-

I think it relates to cultural differences, which are real if somewhat
politically incorrect to acknowledge. Russia has a long history of
accepting pseudoscience inside its mainstream scientific and educational
communities- something that continues to this day. Research into
paranormal phenomena, bizarre medical theories, astrology, and the like
is carried out by workers at universities to this day. This carries on a
tradition dating back to Lysenko, arguably Velikovsky (who left Russia
but was the product of a Russian education), and much of the Russian
research into Tunguska. Many scientists in Russia recognize that this is
a huge problem facing their science system as a whole- that not only is
the public unable to distinguish between science and pseudoscience, but
neither can many formal educational institutions.

My own extensive experience with Indian scientists suggests that many
seem to have rather odd ideas that are not consistent with science,
although that does not in general prevent them from carrying out high
quality scientific work. I've also seen a lack of recognition in the
public for the concept of scientific specialties- so that anybody
branded a "scientist", regardless of field, may be taken as an expert in
any scientific matter. I expect something like that is what happens with
these exceedingly poor meteor/meteorite reports we see coming out of
India.

Of course, such things happen in all countries, but seem to be more
common in some than in others.

While I strongly doubt that anywhere near half the U.S. population
believes in a young Earth, it is certainly too many. But the quality of
science in the U.S. is very high- the best in the world IMO.
Pseudoscience or simply bad science is not tolerated in the scientific
community. Furthermore, even amongst the general public, there seems to
be an understanding of what makes an expert credible, and unscientific
beliefs are largely kept separate from scientific beliefs. While the
lack of scientific knowledge (and credulity and skepticism in general)
is woefully poor in the U.S., the situation appears to me quite
different from what is seen in Russia or India. As an example of how
cultural differences can affect pseudoscientific beliefs, you can look
to Creation Science/Intelligent Design in the U.S. (which is universally
viewed as pseudoscience in the scientific community, but not by a
significant percentage of the public), or homeopathy in much of Europe,
which is not only accepted as valid by a large part of the public, but
receives state funds for research and for public health. But these
things have much narrower scope than what is seen in some countries.

I wouldn't say that I "look down on India or Russia", simply that I
recognize a reality in their scientific systems and scientific
philosophy. It means I may scrutinize a paper coming from Russia closer
than I would one coming from the U.S. My earlier comment about "not a
single scientist" in India was (I hope) obviously hyperbole, but I do
think that way too many scientists there are quick to give absurdly
incorrect information, and way too many journalists are quick to print
it... far more of either than we find in the U.S. or western Europe.

Anyway, enough said. Agree or disagree... it isn't my intent to start a
big argument. I think we can all agree that certain areas of the world
produce particularly poor meteor/meteorite reports (and sometimes, a
complete lack of follow-up), regardless of the underlying reason.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message -----
From: <info at niger-meteorite-recon.de>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 9:35 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Family Claims Meteorite
FellInTheirCourtyardinIndia


> Chris wrote:
>
> " I think there are certain countries that are much more
> likely to embrace bad science or pseudoscience (India and Russia come
> immediately to mind)."
>
> You mean like countries where creationist theme parks attract the
> crowds and where nearly half the population believes the earth is less
> than 10000 years old?
>
> I say there is no reason to look down on India or Russia in this
> regard.
>
> Svend
Received on Thu 09 Aug 2007 07:50:55 PM PDT