A few days ago Tim Hunt, an important medical researcher made a remark to the effect that women in laboratories are easy to make cry, easy to fall in love with, or too easily fall in love with the men. What he said was a joke (he’s married to a top scientist in her field!) based on some of his observations over time.
My first thought was that all of the people who talk all the time about how science is literally no different from what expert scientists say (like when Richard Dawkins is quoted as though he understands philosophy just because he is a former biologist). But, that same group, it seems, found Hunt’s remarks so offensive that he has been asked to resign from his job doing important research to fight cancer! The feelings of a small group of people are considered more important than his research now! The fact of the matter is that lots of women are scientists and the ones who are wouldn’t be deterred by a remark like that, just like men aren’t deterred from leadership positions when journalists claim that women are better than men at leading.
Anyway, science (read: the opinions of experts on ideas beyond their expertise) is only worshiped by the science pagans when it agrees with them or has cool graphics attached.
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