RE: The reasons why science communication benefits you as a scientist – Why talking to other people is important for your research
The things you say I consider to be part of the scientific enterprise anyway (questioning your own beliefs all the time, talking to anyone of any background about your ideas and theirs, etc.), so if people don't do those things, they have misinterpreted what scientific methodology is all about. And that's maybe partly the fault of how science is taught. For instance, Karl Popper basically provided scientists with an explanation of what they now consider to be their methodology, but still most scientists know only the superficialities of his thought, and they don't know anything about the man who sparked them (David Hume) or other philosophers of science (like Thomas Kuhn), etc. This has the blinders effect that you talked about: too much specialization, different disciplines not talking to each other.
About scientists being hermetic and reclusive, I have to say that they have every right to be that, and it might be what sparks their genius in the first place! Maybe if Newton was outgoing like other kids, he wouldn't be able to do what he did! I understand some scientists must go out there and cheerlead for science, but some of them are best kept exactly where they are!
I am so with you! I often have the impression, that science mostly is equalized with natural science/ applied science, but philosophy or history are not deemed as (hard) science although these disciplines provide methods of thinking and examination. And I am also not sure if science reports are too difficult to understand, in my opinion it’s just too hard for some people to distinguish between causally thinking and mere opinion. And science (indifferent which discipline) is often ambiguous and it’s difficult to live without certainties - so certainties are made in form of false facts/opinions and the equalization of thinking and believing.
@alexander.alexis, Excellently put! That is what being a scientist should actually be like.
At the very minimum, I believe that all scientists in training should have a Philosophy of Science course in their curriculum. We had such a course in university during my Bachelor's degree and it (along with some courses on logic I had in High School) definitely improved my critical thinking as well as broadened my perspective on the way Science works.
Hehe, indeed! I didn't mean that everyone should go out and do TED talks or Science Fairs. Some people work much better in solitary. However, there are many of us who are interested in becoming a bridge between science and the general public, and could certainly benefit from this interaction.
Cheers! And thanks for this amazing comment.