Credibility of SciAm?
Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
25 Feb 1998 13:05:38 +0100
Apropos the question that came up about the credibility of New
Scientist, I have begun to worry about Scientific American. I have
read it for as long as I have been able to read texts in english
(actually longer, I learnt some of my english from trying to read my
father's copies as a child), but recently I have begun to feel there
is a downward trend in quality. The new, glossier format with larger
and more colorful pictures is just one sign. Then there were the
infamous article about nanotechnology, and now history seems to be
repeating. Apparently the pro and con articles on the merits of animal
use in biomedical research were judged on different criteria (in favor
of the con side), allowing some unsubstantiated claims with no
opportunity for the opponents to respond. See
http://biomednet.com/hmsbeagle/member/1998/25/people/op_ed.htm for
their response, published in HMS Beagle.
Are there any others who are disturbed by the trend in Scientific
American? Are we loosing one of the in the past best popular
scientific journals to a mere journal of opinion?
--
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Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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