Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Noonan
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I have been on a number of forums and I realize that it may be frustrating to the scientific community to constantly deal with public concerns but I can politely assure you that some individuals do not respond with confidence to a put down even if it is from someone highly academically qualified.
This experiment is entirely in the hands of the scientific community which has guaranteed the safety aspect and in my case at least a nervous member of the public praying to God that we do not get hurt in the search for the God Particle. What I am saying is I understand the communication between peers takes a certain adversarial format. That same adversarial format may quieten the non scientist by intimidation but it is not a good way to allay fears.
Michael
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Michael,
I'll admit that I might not have followed your point completely, so I'm sorry if my response is a little off.
I can only speak for myself, but I have no problem answering questions from individuals who have concerns or questions - I actually love to do it and it is one of the reasons I hang out here. And I think if you look at my responses in this thread, I have tried to answer people's questions. I also DO NOT believe an adversarial format is necessary or desired, either between scientists or between scientists and non-scientists, particularly for topics like this.
But I have a problem, as Stuart van Onselen pointed out, when someone just assumes that scientists are evil and don't care, and will not at least TRY to understand the answers (I am not referring to you).