when a scientist sits and thinks about what might be a good problem to attack next, they are doing science.
Sure, and you've expanded the definition of "doing science" into uselessness. "Doodling on paper napkins is doing science!" -- well, yeah, if you want it so, what next?
I'm not talking about what large variety of things scientists do in the course of their professional lives. I'm talking about the core concept of science and whether it, as MattG believes, "moves forward through something called scientific consensus".
In particular, I would like to distinguish between "doing science" (discovering how the world works) and "applying science" (changing the world based on your beliefs about how it works).
the core concept of science
Let's distinguish two things. (1) The core activities of science are, for sure, things like doing carefully designed experiments and applying mathematics to make quantitative predictions based on precisely formulated theories. These activities, indeed, don't proceed by consensus, but no one claimed otherwise; even to ask whether they do is a type error. (2) How scientific knowledge actually advances. This is not only a matter of #1; if we had nothing but #1 then science wouldn't advance at all, because in order for science to ...
Cross-posted from my blog here.
One of the greatest successes of mankind over the last few centuries has been the enormous amount of wealth that has been created. Once upon a time virtually everyone lived in grinding poverty; now, thanks to the forces of science, capitalism and total factor productivity, we produce enough to support a much larger population at a much higher standard of living.
EAs being a highly intellectual lot, our preferred form of ritual celebration is charts. The ordained chart for celebrating this triumph of our people is the Declining Share of People Living in Extreme Poverty Chart.
(Source)
However, as a heretic, I think this chart is a mistake. What is so great about reducing the share? We could achieve that by killing all the poor people, but that would not be a good thing! Life is good, and poverty is not death; it is simply better for it to be rich.
As such, I think this is a much better chart. Here we show the world population. Those in extreme poverty are in purple – not red, for their existence is not bad. Those who the wheels of progress have lifted into wealth unbeknownst to our ancestors, on the other hand, are depicted in blue, rising triumphantly.
Long may their rise continue.