"Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had. Let's be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus. There is no such thing as consensus science. If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus. Period."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Science fiction authors from the United StatesNovelists from the United StatesNon-fiction authors from the United StatesFilm producers from the United StatesTelevision producers
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
"Aliens Cause Global Warming" - A lecture at the California Institute of Technology (17 January 2003)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Related Quotes
"Media carries with it a credibility that is totally undeserved. You have all experienced this. [...] Briefly stated, …"
"I want to mention in passing that punditry has undergone a subtle change over the years. In the old days, commentator…"
"As I went down to my car, [Peter Randall] said, "If you don't want to get involved I'll understand" I looked back at …"
"Science is the most exciting and sustained enterprise of discovery in the history of our species. It is the great adv…"
"Let's be clear: all professions look bad in the movies. And there's a good reason for this. Movies don't portray care…"
"Carr was left with a ring, in the palm of his hand, a small gold circle, leading him nowhere."
"They passed a farmhouse, a simple shack surrounded by animals — a lazy burro, clucking chickens, a litter of pigs. Th…"
"Characterization lies at the heart of the impulse to polarize every issue — what we might call the Crossfire Syndrome…"
"This polarization of the issues has contributed greatly to our national paralysis, because it posits false choices wh…"
"Science is nothing more than a method of inquiry. The method says an assertion is valid — and merits universal accept…"