2/ Being more explicit, has anyone studied what compels someone (esp. a non-scientist) to submit their armchair hypothesis to a physicist, anticipating that "they may have cracked the code."
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3/ I think physics is the most interesting example because the discipline -- currently and historically -- exists on the cutting edge of mathematical methods; physicists are intensely-trained; and, their explananda (generally) afford experimentation.
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4/ So, the idea of a paradigm shifting outsider seems especially improbable. But, (informal) submissions occur with enough regularity to be a nuisance. And, while interesting to study, I think it says a lot, generally, about the obstacles to communicating social science research.
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5/ We social scientists -- quantitative or otherwise -- are not afforded much in the way of clean experiments. Social systems are tangled, often inextricably. But, because people live within this system, it's a short hop to assuming generalizable knowledge.
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6/ Armchair psychology, sociology, economics, political science, and anthropology is everywhere. Of course, given the complexity and limitations, maybe an outsider does have a better (albeit not high) chance of path-breaking in these disciplines compared to physics.
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7/ But, I think it demonstrates why social
#scicomm is so paradoxically challenging. Extensive subjective experiences gives rise to lots of local realities, making it easy to reject discordant ones. After all, people come up with back-of-napkin alternatives to dark matter.Show this thread -
Adding this related thread. (I can't remember if I saw it before or after writing this one, as sometimes happens with twitter inspiration.)https://twitter.com/yungneocon/status/995064292457238529 …
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