Dr. Robert Lackey: Is Science Biased Toward Natural?

That is the title of the provocative seminar given yesterday by Dr. Robert T. Lackey.

We had the largest group of attendees so far this term and the questions flowed freely when Bob finished.

Here is a PDF of his PPT:

Download Lackey_Is_Science_Biased_Toward_Natural_GEM Seminar_8May2012

Here is the paper he distributed with his lecture; this paper is cited in his lecture (Scott et al., 2007).

Excellent!

"Science is not value free, but it should be policy neutral." - Robert T. Lackey

“Policy preferences are commonly embedded in the science presented in natural resource and conservation biology scientific journals.”- Scott, J.M., Rachlow,J.L., Lackey, R.T., Pidgnorna, A.B., Aycrigg, I.L., Feldman, G.R., Svancara, L.K., Rupp, D.A., Stanish, D.I., Steinhorst, R.K., 2007. Policy,advocacy in science: prevalence, perspectives, and implications for conservation biologists. Conservation Biology 2l: 29-35.

Comments

[Mr X]

Actually probably most science is biased 'towards the human'. Most engineering stuff, almost all medical science, you name it; implicitely it is assumed that it is right to do all that, to break down nature for the sake of science. (Is it right to build cars?)
After all, that is why many of us choose to study _natural_ sciences in the first place. It is a bit odd to impose normative values on natural sciences where other sciences do not seem to care too much.
Is science a parallel world, or perhaps a religion?

[PAUL MILLER]

I found the presentation to cause me to reflect upon my own prejudices and perhaps ill conceived conclusions ........ THANK YOU ... i needed that eye opener.............