Jane Goodall: Where Science Has Gone Wrong
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on September 16th, 2014
If Jane Goodall could change one thing about the way science is done, this is probably it.
In a new video from NOVA’s web series “The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers,” the celebrated primatologist recalls how, early in her career (see above), other researchers criticized her for referring to her animal subjects as “he” or “she,” as well as for giving names to the chimpanzees she studied.
“I was told you have to give them numbers because you have to be objective as a scientist,” Goodall says in the video, “and you mustn’t empathize with your subject. And I feel this is where science has gone wrong. To have this coldness, this lack of empathy, has enabled some scientists to do unethical behavior.”
She says empathy can bring a better understanding of animal — and human — behavior, adding, “I think only when our clever brain and our human heart work together in harmony can we achieve our full potential.”
Source: Jane Goodall Opens Up About Where Science Has Gone Wrong
See also:
11 10 Reasons Why Everyone Should Love Jane Goodall
Today in Bigfoot History | 2002 | Jane Goodall “I’m sure that they exist”
Today in Bigfoot History | 2003 | 5 Primatologists Advocate Bigfoot
Jane Goodall Still Finds Bigfoot Fascinating
Women in Bigfoot Studies: Jane Goodall
Ultimate Bigfoot Conference
Jane Goodall Speaks Out For Bigfoot
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
I love you Jane.
Yep.
Jane’s got it together.
Too many scientists forget that science is about as emotional as Sunday go to meetin’. All one has to do is read the debates over recent fossil finds – “I am holding the baptismal certificate of this hominid!” versus NO YOU AREN’T! THAT’S A FEMALE GORILLA!!!! (note the emotional failure to recognize the significance of finding a gorilla ancestor, of which we have practically no evidence).
In their total failure to address even the most plausible cryptids, scientists are abdicating the key wellspring of science: the aching desire to know. They contradict what they say in the same breath that they say it. “Sasquatch would be a scientific Everest if it were real!” they say. Um…Everest was only an Everest Everest BEFORE IT WAS CLIMBED.
In under-serving their emotions, scientists are constantly shown to be intellectually short-changing the rest of us. Comprehension of this video and agreement with it should really be a primary qualification for being a scientist.
If you disagree:
Einstein didn’t.