What Good has come from the forum?

[losfomot]

Put another way:

 

Have there been any clear advances or benefits to science as a direct result of this forum?

 

Scienceforums.net has been around for many years now, and I love it. I know it has helped me, and it is an invaluable resource for a layman to be able to ask professional scientists questions. Or for scientists to ask themselves questions.

 

Think about the state of communication 30 years ago compared to today. You would think that a forum (like this one) that offers virtually instant communication between scientists around the world, giving them the ability to share and compare ideas, theories, and thoughts, would be a huge boost to technological/scientific advance.

 

Has it been?

[swansont]

We've answered a lot of questions and cleared up many misconceptions. I think that's good.

 

I don't think this particular forum brings scientists together for discussion within a discipline. The population of participants is too sparse to expect overlap in any one discipline; I think the target audience is the interested non-expert, e.g. a student, or someone learning about material not in their field.

[iNow]

Inspiration. A new idea... A "what if" moment... An epiphany like, "Wow, I'd never thought about it like that..."

 

The ability to think critically by seeing challenges to ideas and receiving challenges to our own.

Practice at articulating thoughts crisply, clearly, and pedantically to ensure precision in language.

 

Seriously? How is the answer to your question not immediately obvious to you?

Edited September 1, 2010 by iNow

[dragonstar57]

it is invaluable to the high school student with no even vaguely intelligent friends

[Mr Skeptic]

We advance education, not so much technology and science. Of course, when people are educated in science they may later end up advancing science and technology. Also, I consider it a form of entertainment (compare to watching TV or playing video games).

[ajb]

I have learnt things I have forgotten or should have known before!

 

I mean, when someone asks a question it can often be the case that I really should have known the answer of the top of my head. By asking the question they make me look back in my textbooks, or online at things I would not normally look into. Most of these are straightforward questions that I would have studied as an undergraduate. The passage of time and specialisation means one can often not recall things precisely.

 

So, I feel it has been good for the person asking the questions but also to those who answer them.

 

I cannot say that research-wise that I have learnt a lot here. There is one person that uses the forum that I have asked nontrivial questions about quantum field theory. He works on the more phenomenological side and it is nice to find out their attitude and philosophy when it comes to the mathematical pitfalls of quantum field theory. This has been informative.

 

Probably, it is correct to say that in general scientists have not yet fully realised the potential of internet forums for discussion and dissemination. I often look at nlab, but have not participated myself.

 

People do keep blogs of their research (I am starting to do this slowly). These can be useful for dissemination, maybe more than general science forums.

[CaptainPanic]

The real value of the forum for me personally is that I rehearse all the topics that I learned about in the past (school, university, voluntary study) that I don't need in my own field of work.

The few things I need at work are hard to forget, because I use them every day. But all the other topics just slowly fade away - that is, until some smart kid on the forum asks a question about it, and motivates me to look it up again.

 

So... that seems pretty much the same answer as ajb... except that my blog is not about my research at all.

Edited September 1, 2010 by CaptainPanic

[TonyMcC]

I am in my 70's and have learnt a few new things. Learn a little every day is an expression I like!

[ParanoiA]

The forum has helped me in all the ways mentioned above, as well as realizing just how batshit crazy people really are. I used to think that unsubstantiated beliefs, exception rationalization, inconsistent ideology, fear mongering, and etc were limited to one kind of psychology and traditional or antiquated philosophy. Then, to my horror, I have discovered it in everyone, no matter what ideology or philosophical foundation they were impressed with, while they all point fingers at each other for doing it. If I wasn't part of the human race, I would laugh about it.

 

I came here to discuss and debate with logical thinkers. Scientists, no matter their persuasion, are just damned interesting people. They're less inclined to appeal to ridicule, to use cheap argumentative tricks and etc, they're more predisposed to proving their logic genuinely. And because of that, they've changed my mind on a number of things and caused me to think far deeper than I ever had before. I had to strip my beliefs down to the foundation and admit or reject assumptions and then rebuild. I'm much happier, and more confident in what I believe because of this process, all made possible by the people on this site.

 

There's probably more. But that's what comes to mind...

[losfomot]

Seriously? How is the answer to your question not immediately obvious to you?

 

It is obvious that it is a great help to the layman... or to a student. And perhaps that helps, indirectly, in the long run, to advance science for mankind.

 

I don't think this particular forum brings scientists together for discussion within a discipline. The population of participants is too sparse to expect overlap in any one discipline; I think the target audience is the interested non-expert, e.g. a student, or someone learning about material not in their field.

 

I cannot say that research-wise that I have learnt a lot here......

 

Probably, it is correct to say that in general scientists have not yet fully realised the potential of internet forums for discussion and dissemination. I often look at nlab, but have not participated myself.

 

People do keep blogs of their research (I am starting to do this slowly). These can be useful for dissemination, maybe more than general science forums.

 

Perhaps this is simply the wrong forum for that type of thing. Do you think that NLab has succeeded, in a more direct way, to advance science?

 

It seems to me that there are probably a lot of things stopping scientists from doing any real, effective, collaborative thinking/sharing/discussion/dissemination... Fear that they might make a silly mistake. Fear that they give too much away, and someone else patents the idea they came up with or publishes the paper before them.

 

I am not trying to take away the value of this forum and others like it. It's just that, almost 20 years ago, I discovered a forum called ask Dr. Neutrino, and I remember thinking that the internet was going to advance science like nothing else ever did... a new scientific revolution. Today there are many such forums, but I have not seen the dramatic effect I was expecting.

 

Perhaps it is my point of view. Someone else might say science (and technology) has moved very fast in the last 30 years. Someone else might say 'look at all the different things and ideas forums like this have helped to create'

[Mr Skeptic]

I am not trying to take away the value of this forum and others like it. It's just that, almost 20 years ago, I discovered a forum called ask Dr. Neutrino, and I remember thinking that the internet was going to advance science like nothing else ever did... a new scientific revolution. Today there are many such forums, but I have not seen the dramatic effect I was expecting.

 

The internet has indeed done wonderful things for the advancement of science. Just not in discussion forums like you expected. Consider the value of Wikipedia for education, we also have online college education (for the people with enough self-discipline to do it), online journals for publishing papers for all to see, also sites like Pub Med where you can look up genome sequences and many other things. Our little niche is mostly basic education, which rather follows from the structure of the site. Were we a forum for advancing scientific research directly, you wouldn't be allowed on it...

[losfomot]

Were we a forum for advancing scientific research directly, you wouldn't be allowed on it...

 

Touche, my friend.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Touche, my friend.

Worth noting that I'd have never been allowed on it, either.

[Mr Skeptic]

Yeah, me neither.

[ajb]

Do you think that NLab has succeeded, in a more direct way, to advance science?

 

Yes, but only in a relatively narrow area: higher category theory and higher algebraic structures in mathematics and physics. Thankfully, some of these are of very direct interest to me.

 

I would have to say that the biggest advance to physics and mathematics has been the arXiv, with the possible exception of email which allows us all to keep in personal contact.

Edited September 2, 2010 by ajb

[swansont]

 

Perhaps this is simply the wrong forum for that type of thing. Do you think that NLab has succeeded, in a more direct way, to advance science?

 

It seems to me that there are probably a lot of things stopping scientists from doing any real, effective, collaborative thinking/sharing/discussion/dissemination... Fear that they might make a silly mistake. Fear that they give too much away, and someone else patents the idea they came up with or publishes the paper before them.

 

I am not trying to take away the value of this forum and others like it. It's just that, almost 20 years ago, I discovered a forum called ask Dr. Neutrino, and I remember thinking that the internet was going to advance science like nothing else ever did... a new scientific revolution. Today there are many such forums, but I have not seen the dramatic effect I was expecting.

 

Perhaps it is my point of view. Someone else might say science (and technology) has moved very fast in the last 30 years. Someone else might say 'look at all the different things and ideas forums like this have helped to create'

 

 

email has certainly helped.

 

Scientists already have networks in place for collaboration; you read journals and go to conferences, which allow you to interact (directly or through correspondence) with others in your field. A forum doesn't really add much to that networking. The internet democratizes interaction, so that all voices have a better chance of being heard, but science isn't a democracy. Because this forum is moderated, you might not appreciate the extent to which nonsense answers appear in response to physics questions, though you can peruse the speculations forum and see how much is there. People doing serious research would probably have very little patience for that.

[CharonY]

As already said, networking has always been an integral part of science. Even before the internet. A forum is just not that best platform for it. Here maybe a handful of all the members are actually scientists with highly dispersed interests. As such it is clear that the majority of the posts will not deal with something that generate professional interest.