I’m watching a cool program right now on relativity and related things. One of the commentators, a well known physicist, said “we have telescopes because light travels at different speeds through different materials.”
Um, no. Sir, we have telescopes because we want to see things at a distance.
We CAN have telescopes because light travels at different speeds through different materials.
This is a common problem with people in the sciences who do not realize that not everyone will give them “slack” in their speaking. Yes, we should be given that courtesy, but we’re often not given it. I’m not talking about typos, but in not saying what you actually mean.
The most glaring case in biology, and I’d argue in science, is the case with Charles Darwin’s little theory.
First, as biologists generally know but often forget to mention, is that Charles Darwin did not come up with the idea of evolution. He didn’t come up with the organisms change among generations. He had a theory about HOW organisms change among generations – the Theory of Natural Selection. That is not the Theory of Evolution.
There is, actually, no Theory of Evolution. Evolution is a fact. It happens, has happened and will happen. The “theory” bit, the part where all the research and debate happens, is about the mechanism by which evolution happens and what drives it.
Communication, and laxity of speech is much of the problem, not all by any means, of the public debate about science, in particular about evolution and probably climate change as well.
So, Scientists, please be as precise as you (we) can.
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