A lil' help from admins in generating a topic (or series of topics) centered around the general question: what are our (science-types) ideals and expectations on how we want people to participate in this debate and, more generally, in democracy and life as a community?
I don't think that discussion, directly, would lead to anything fruitful--too wide open, too opinion-oriented. Instead, I want to break things down into fairly narrow topics.
First step: understanding better what exactly science-types think of as "knowledge"--what is it and where does it come from? This includes questions like:
- When we request each other to provide evidence in an argument, should we be referring to source papers that contain original data, or is referring to authorities good enough?
- If it's good enough, when and why is that the case?
- Is scientific knowledge the set of all source data in the literature, or is it the set of inferences and conclusions that have been generally agreed upon by the scientific community, based on those data?
If and when I get concrete answers about that, I can ask more concrete questions like: if I'm not a nerdy book-worm whose primary interest is learning about the natural world, how do I participate in your democracy? Or more generally, how do you expect a general public who is not necessarily compelled by knowledge to interact with you? Does it have to be on your terms? If so, why?
Any help in clarifying these thoughts, and ultimately spawning a simple, narrow topic to start would be appreciated!
Edited by Ben!, : Edited to change the message mood.
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