I love science. To be more accurate, I should state that I love the scientific method and critical thinking skills. But I do love science as well. Aside from being an incredibly suave, irresistible Rake, I'm also a guy who gets to work in medical science every day, as a hematology consultant for a biotech company. Which would be awesome if it weren't for the fact that the job doesn't entail enough actual "science". It has too much emphasis on pushing certain treatments over others for my taste, and not enough legit teaching of all treatments for certain disease states.
But I have digressed before making my point. Science.
You may have noticed I haven't written as much about science lately. A lot of this blog is supposed to be about critical thinking, science, skepticism, and fashion accessories. For the two of you still reading, that last item was to make sure you were paying attention.
As vital as I believe critical thought is to the survival of the human species, I seem to have been remiss in promoting it here. I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm afraid that I'll fall into one of the many traps that so often catch "science writers". They frequently do things like:
- Talk down to their audience (mainly because they suck at teaching).
- Talk over their audiences' heads (see reason above).
- Commit glaring errors which misinform their audience (Centripetal Force vs. Centrifugal Force - which will be a topic here soon).
- Promote pseudo-science. This one irritates me the most.
But I am planning to make some changes to that and give regular posts on the subject. However, my biggest fear is that I won't keep up with my duties, so I'll need regular input from you readers. You can help! Feel free to ask questions, bring up topics, or otherwise chime in. If I don't know an answer, I'll certainly make something up that sounds convincing.
And there's always Barbara, from Spasms of Accommodation. She's frighteningly brilliant, detail-oriented, and about a thousand times more qualified to write about science. Which is another fear of mine; I'll write something totally nutty and she'll read it. And then the shit will really hit the fan. Actually, I depend on people like Barbara to keep on an even keel. That's the way science works. I come up with something, and somebody else verifies it or shouts, "BULLSHIT!". Isaac Newton was really good at that. It had the effect of making everyone hate his guts and vice versa. So I look forward to the shouts. I think. You know what? Just read her blog instead. Well, throw me a bone now and then too, but really, read her blog. Legit genius and hell of a human being.
Next week will be, Centripetal Force: Or How I Learned To Stay On The Merry-Go-Round.
