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@gottapatchemall | |||||
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Things that are not required to be a scientist:
-Having a PhD
-Publishing peer-reviewed papers
-Getting paid to do research
Things that do make you a scientist:
-Using the scientific method to study stuff
That's it, that's the whole list.
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Alex Naka
@gottapatchemall
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25. srp |
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I want to expand on this - I wrote this yesterday bc I saw some lame tweets gatekeeping on this topic. It reminded me of a time when I was a third year PhD student and a layperson told me I couldn't call myself a scientist
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Alex Naka
@gottapatchemall
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25. srp |
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this was obviously a really ignorant take on his part - I was literally doing science all day - but it got under my skin a lot
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Alex Naka
@gottapatchemall
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25. srp |
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my point here is not to say that these things are unimportant. if you want to do good science, then getting a phd, publishing papers, and participating in professional scientific communities are very obviously good things to do
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Alex Naka
@gottapatchemall
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25. srp |
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nor am I trying to say that 'a person who uses the scientific method' = a perfect and comprehensive definition of 'scientist'
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Alex Naka
@gottapatchemall
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25. srp |
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my point is only that the heuristics many people use to identify scientists are not actually fundamental to doing science or being a scientist
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Alex Naka
@gottapatchemall
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25. srp |
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and telling other people that they aren't a scientist based on whether or not they fit your image of what a scientist looks like is lame af
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🔬 ian🕷
@pseudonoma
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25. srp |
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But "Scientist" is a profession, so at the very least you'll need a basic amount of relevant training, and be living off doing science to some extent.
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Alex Naka
@gottapatchemall
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26. srp |
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I don't think all scientists are professional scientists. A lot of undergraduates do research without being paid but many of them are great scientists.
That said, probably anybody working as a researcher in a lab *should* be paid, but that's a whole other can of worms
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Alex Naka
@gottapatchemall
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26. srp |
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I'm really glad this resonated with people.
obligatory: check out this soundcloud
soundcloud.com/shababobeats
(not mine, the work of friend and extremely talented scientist/artist ben shababo)
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Toviah Moldwin
@TMoldwin
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25. srp |
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Does anyone actually use the scientific method? Does 'the scientific method' actually exist? Most scientists I know don't follow any sort of algorithm when doing research.
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Alex Naka
@gottapatchemall
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26. srp |
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I don't think of it as an algorithm... Sometimes we show kids diagrams like this that present it as a serial process and I definitely agree that science very rarely works like this pic.twitter.com/uoJWklLkPu
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