Josh Rosenau has an excellent post on the recent theft and release of (selected uncontextualized?) emails of climate scientists. See: Stolen emails, climate change, and the practice of science.
I have been in the room when scientists got personal and forgot to be objective. I've been in the room when scientists made up data, or at least, tried to. I've also been in the room when people's personal agendas, such as they are, were pitted against other people's personal agendas and moderators and observers jumped in and science progressed. Or, in some cases, failed to progress because it was not supposed to. (See The Greg Layer)
It isn't pretty, but it is how we make sausage.
Josh's post is an excellent framework with which to consider this recent event.
Read the comments on this post...
More...
I have been in the room when scientists got personal and forgot to be objective. I've been in the room when scientists made up data, or at least, tried to. I've also been in the room when people's personal agendas, such as they are, were pitted against other people's personal agendas and moderators and observers jumped in and science progressed. Or, in some cases, failed to progress because it was not supposed to. (See The Greg Layer)
It isn't pretty, but it is how we make sausage.
Josh's post is an excellent framework with which to consider this recent event.
Read the comments on this post...
More...