Posted by J.H. on March 16, 1999 at 16:28:57 {MWKQmDRkic4cM}:
In Reply to: ***Who is Rolf Furuli? posted by Marilyn on March 16, 1999 at 15:48:18:
Marilyn,
: he probably knows that being educated or an intellectual doesn't mean diddly squat - it's being a well published (well as in highly esteemed publications) and highly respected by their peers that means everything in academic circles.
Exactly. This is a typical misconception about science. They think whatever Dr This or That, PhD says is by definition science. Science is not about individual opinions. Real scientists, and by extensions scholars in other fields, writes in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The peer-reviewing process tends to weed out the crackpots, who then usually work hard to convince a journalist to write something about his "revolutionary new discovery." That's why 90%, at least, of what is written and said about science in journalistic work is junk.
After all, even a failure in the academic world can, if s/he is unscrupulous, be a real star among credulous people, especially if he tells people something they want to hear. Behe and Eisenman come to mind, but alas, there are many more.
It is certainly true that in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.