do What scientists do most in the lab? Observe? Experiment? Theorize? Read and write? (paper work?) Scientists are literary reasoners (Bruno Latour). They read and write lab notes, scientific papers, grant applications, data tables, and charts. They read and write referee comments, lectures, power points, e-mails, letters of recommendations, memos, etc. o Latour Wine. Ithaca's restaurant Dano's? sold cheap version of his wine. Inscription devices o Often scientific data take a graphical or printed form produced by what Latour calls "inscription devices" o An inscription device is: an item of apparatus or configuration of such items which can transform a material substance into a figure or diagram which is directly usable by other scientists. o Inscriptions are Reproducible and Transportable. o Inscription devices include electron microscopes, and mass spectrometers, - most devices o An important aspect of scientific activity involves reading, writing and inscriptions. o Language is indexical- in other words the meaning of a word depends on the context in which it is uttered/written o Most obvious for spoken language. Dude Skit o Indexical. Same applies to written language o For example, "Men" written on the door inside a restaurant means "bathroom for men only o "Men at work" o drive slowly o "I really dig men at work" o "I dig Australian music" o words can have different meanings depending on context, scientific facts and technological artifacts can have different meanings too. What about the stylized language of the modern scientific paper? o "Gene entered her lab late at night and peered bleary-eyed at the gel." o "The gel was observed" o Scientific paper uses passive tense- all references to the particular person or particular occasions are removed o One link between language and science and technology is the use of metaphor. Metaphor: figure of speech by which a thing is spoken of as being that which it only resembles, as when a ferocious man is called a tiger Examples
In religion: o "The Lord is my Shepherd" In poetry: o "Tiger, Tiger burning bright in the Forests of the Night" In Love: o "Light of blahblah comes from your eyes" Romeo & Juliet In popular Music o "I walk this empty street, on the boulevard of broken dreams" Greenday o "Oops... I did it again" Britney Spears In Science o "Greenhouse Effect"- Earth's atmosphere is a greenhouse- namely a confined space where certain things (light or photons) enter and where other things (heat) cannot escape o "Gene Gun" invented at Cornell for adding genes in Genetically modified organisms o "Tree of Life" used by Darwin in evolution o Virus o A shot o Tunnel vision Are metaphors essential to science? o Are metaphors just literally "add ons"? o Could science work without metaphors? o Cornell philosopher Max Black argued that scientists used metaphors as tools to think with o If science involves language and langue involves metaphor then it follows that science necessarily involves metaphors. What about models? Visual rather than linguistic? Science As EVIL o Science and scientists o Oppenheimer atomic bomb o Scientists as Frankenstein o Genetically modified foods, organisms Science as Golem o Bumbling giant, made by human hands. Come up with your own metaphor "beauty and the beast"?
Lecture 3 (1.28.08) Pinch finding golf balls. Skills you can learn- skills you can get better at. Observation Definition Images Bearded guy- Jesus! You learned to see the face, you always will see the face! Egasiv-a-siv: upside down looks better then right-side up Madonna. Young girl or old hag? Duck rabbit Staircase illusion Mirror or Passive view of observation What the brain sees is a mirror of what is in the world This view is questioned in recent research on perception Q: how do we structure what we See? A: we use concepts and assumptions to actively sort out the complexity We need the concept of a face to see a face We assume when seeing a face in different lights that the face is all of the same person (similarity assumption) so observation involves making similarity and difference judgments sometimes we look for similarity e.g. the "same" face in different lights sometimes we look for difference e.g. fashion photos of the same face (trying to find the best picture) Seeing as a skill o Seeing similarities and differences is a skill which is learnt o The skill is learnt within a culture (that is to say it must be passed on by people who know how to do it already) Examples o Seeing a face as all the same in different lights is shared in Western human cultures. Not necessarily by American Indians Contested ways of Seeing o (1) Galileo's way of seeing the moon was contested by the church o (2) Fashion photographer's way of seeing the female face can be contested by feminists who regard the face and bodies of women as being exploited by an industry. Can you think of more examples? Observation in ACTIVE Observation is a SKILL which must be learnt Observation is dependent upon assumptions Questions o Are there things in the world we cannot see because we do not have the right concepts/ assumptions?
o If seeing is dependent upon culture and learning would it be possible for people to "unsee" something and under what circumstances? o Theory-Laden or Theory-Dependent Observations Observations are laden with or depend upon theoretical assumptions e.g. "This is a piece of chalk" depends upon assumptions or "theories" we make about chalk. To test that it is calcium carbonate we may add an acid and bubble the resultant gas through lime water to test for carbon dioxide- but this process too depends upon our theories of how chemical reactions work e.g. Gold leaf electroscope measures of static electrical charge depend upon the weather not being damp. i.e. the measurement depends on our theory that electricity is conducted by water vapor.
Lecture 5 (2.4.08) Because experiments are active and take time to perform, experimenters build up their belief in particular results e.g. Milliken became Evidential context is the context in which an observation or experimental result takes on relevance. Belief in any experimental result depends in part upon the evidential context Experiments that go against prevailing theories, laws, and knowledge tend not to be believed. E.g. parapsychology (ESP) Exp that fit in ??? A new technique in science may be accepted because it becomes adopted for some technological or commercial or military use. The evidential context in this case is outside of science E.g. the role of the telescope in navigation- helping to determine longitude, establishing Britain as leading maritime power. Royal Observatory, Greenwich was commissioned in 1675 by King Charles II. At this time the King also created the position of Astronomer Royal. Repeatability of Experiments o Replications of experiments CANNOT PROVIDE DEFINITIVE PROOF for belief in a result independent of evidential context because scientists can challenge whether the replication is really the SAME experiment o E.g. negative replications of quark experiments in video. Perception: Providing different interpretation of same picture. The interpretation can be retained and blurred our judgment in the later events. Ideas correspond to reality. Ideas correspond to your own thoughts. Fact is what is made or done.
Observations and facts on depend each other. If observations change, facts change too. Validity of telescope. What we see, is based on what we see is already there. What they thought Saturn would look like is what they saw o Ring around Saturn was not there o Different theories in the universe decided what we saw through the telescopes. Moving the different direction the boat is moving on the river seems like the person is not moving at all. Lecture (2.6.08) What is Discovery? Scientific Discovery is often a race Who gets there first is the person rewarded. E.g. Race for DNA led to the Nobel prize for Crick and Watson Priority Disputes These are disputes between scientists as to who made the discovery first Newton and Leibnitz over the discovery of calculus HIV as cause of AIDS- Gallo and Pasteur Institute Point Model of Scientific Discovery key feature is that discovery is made ISTANTEOUSLY e.g. Archimedes in his bath This means WHAT has been Discovered by WHO and WHEN can all be clearly identified. Attributional Model of Scientific Discovery Discoveries are attributed by a community Discoveries are only recognized as such with hindsight Discovery is a process extended over time and community o Pulse Attributional Model Better Explains: Cases where what was not recognized as a discovery at one time can later become a discovery. o Mendel's pea experiments Cases where what was seen as a discovery can later become a non-discovery o Cold fusion o Missing link hoax- (Piltdown Man) Point Model is Basic of Scientific Reward System Scientists main rewards are not financial but recognition from making discoveries Prizes and names for discoveries go to individual scientists rather than communities. Q: if the Attributional Model replaced the Point Model? rewards shared amongst a community of scientists What about Discoveries outside of science?
Who discovered America? Does Point or Attributional Model fit better? February 11th, 2008 AIDS DISCOVERY DISPUTE Quiz NEXT WEDNESDAY!!!!!!! S&TS 201: Quiz next Wed (20th) Lecture Notes, reading. Lasts 20 minutes 4-6 short answers. ex. what is metaphor? ex. give us an example of something we talked about video: gorilla and how science doesn't necessarily mean numbers. Observations are still science lab resources = directly correlate with number of discoveries made British scientist tried to stop that. Time Line - 1981: first AIDS patient identified - Jan 1982: first conference identifying ADIS as a major new disease - July 15 1982: CDC report 413 causes in US with 155 deaths - March 1983: gay men and people undergoing blood transfusions identified as main risk groups. - Etcetc - People were feared that AIDS can be contracted casually. o Summer 1983: DHSS seeks to calm public fear - May 1985: 10,000 cases 4,924 deaths - Oct 2, 1985: Rock Hudson dies of AIDS (a famous movie star- kind of like Brad Pitt!) - December 1986: 28,098 cases, 15,757 deaths - 1991: Robert Gallo found guilty of ethical breaches by NIH tribunal but he successfully appeals o regarding HILV-III and LAV being about the same. o Dispute involved not only scientific credit but financial rights to the ADIS blood test o National prestige involved o Case seems to fit Attribution Model of discovery but scientists involved adhere to Point Model o Video Feb 13, 2008 Scientific Demo Reservation (?), Audience Rhetorical Presentation
Don't find out anything new Believe what you see Don't believe what you see Experiment: Can find out something new; private Feb 27, 2008 What's so special about science? Robert K. Merton Merton: science is a special community with a special set of norms which produces certified knowledge Popper: science has a special method which separates science from other activities Definition of Science -Norms are institutional imperatives, which are shared by members of a particular community -A norm is institutionalized when it is linked to the distribution of rewards. Matthew effect: rich researcher becomes richer, poor one gets poorer What you have access to, gives you more power to gain more power. Matilda Effect: skewing by gender Fraud Hoaxing Forgery Trimming Cooking March 10, 2008 Something unusual is happening: bank robbery, parapsychologists Nothing unusual happening: pick pocketing, parapsychologists Constitutional forum: popular science journal, legit journals Contingent forum: pop science magazines, newspapers don't really expect science to be there (UFO's and pseudo science goes here bc they are refused to be pusblished) Hi, How are you? Breach When ppl break things, you find something interesting about them. Punching Physical Systems Breaching: Scattering experiments (you learn something about the properties), Punch Science? Study of a controversy. Doesn't fit in- and Scientists respond to it. Way of finding out information During a scientific controversy the normal implicit rules underlying scientific conduct becomes explicit
Different Types of Controversy Priority Dispute ex. Gallo and the French HIV causes of AIDS and who discovered first? Controversies within science at the research frontiers over experimental or theoretical results. Ex. Cold fusion, ivory billed birds Controversies which are to do with the impact of science on society o Genetically modified organisms, safety of nuclear power, and global warming Cold Fusion on Research frontiers Small number of scientists actively engaged in the controversy- sometimes known as the core set. They do the experiments and the public waits. Most scientists NEVER take part in scientific controversies Most controversies are resolved very quickly- cold fusion only took a few months Science is good at bringing controversies to an end. Controversies within Science messy, There is "life after death"- losers rarely concede defeat, often closure brought about by combination of resoursces Scientists who lose become consumers of S&TS Why Method as Mess Vanishes from History Distance lends enchantment Winners write history "No controversy here please- we're scientists!" Controversies involving impact of science on society? Controversies involving impact on wider society provide more resources by which to discredit scientists and more forums of debate. Unlike controversies within science such disputes are much harder to reach closure over. What are GMOS? *GMOs are Genetically Modified Organisms. GMFs * typically plants, which had genes transferred Why produce GMOS? Increase yields in crops by two main mechanisms: (1) plant tolerant to a herbicide. Ex. When are crops are sprayed with herbicides, the weeds are killed but the crop is unaffected (2) introduction of toxin into a plant. Naturally occurring soil bacteria. BT, BT-corn, this toxin kills pests such as European Corn borer. Uses of GMOs agriculture vaccines- ex potato which has genetically produced antigens Who produces GMOs?
Biotech industry, Research universities Critics GMOs are opposed by Friends of the Earth and Green Peace GMOs are only accepted in many countries if GMO food is labeled Advantages claimed for GMOs: higher yields (good for farmers, cheaper and more plentiful), lower spraying of pesticides (cheaper for farmer and better for environment) Disadvantages claimed for GMOs Safety: allergies, unknown risk, no "frankifoods!" Environmental risks to other organisms: monarch butterflies who eat BT pollen, possible risks to humans? Economic dependency on huge biotech corporations like Monsanto. May wipe out indigenous agriculture in developing countries Reduction of biodiversity Food tastes Lousy!