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Preferred Field of Science
Topic Started: Jan 7 2009, 07:09 PM (2,707 Views)
Livyatan


lamna
Jan 19 2009, 04:33 PM
Quote:
 
Anyone could be a naturalist, its as easy as taking a microscope and wandering around outside.

It Darwin's day it was. Even in Edwardian times. But in the present science is much larger and more specialised.
That was because, during those times, wasting your times studying insects was considered nonsense. Restrictions then were simply societal: being a natural historian still took little training or preparation, as it does to become a biologist or true scientist (someone who uses scientific method in their work, not simply observation).
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lamna
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What are you talking about? Many clergymen were interested in insects, and study of them was not considered absurd. It's just nobody had done the observations yet.

I'm a bit miffed at you saying that they were not true scientists, or using the scientific method. It's polymaths like that who invented the scientific method.
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Magizoology ;)



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lamna
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Is that like a nutritionist? Just a made up thing?
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Livyatan


lamna
Jan 19 2009, 07:20 PM
What are you talking about? Many clergymen were interested in insects, and study of them was not considered absurd. It's just nobody had done the observations yet.

I'm a bit miffed at you saying that they were not true scientists, or using the scientific method. It's polymaths like that who invented the scientific method.
If you actually knew the definition of natural history you would know they are not true scientists. Naturalists are more like archaeologists: they do research and make observations but do not use the entire methodology that is expected of scientists. Within naturalist as an umbrella term, yes there are scientific disciplines who follow the strictest possible methodology. But naturalists in general, do not have the same training, methods, and status as 'true' scientists.

Even if many clergy found insects interesting, it was still considered odd to make it your career to study nature, then it was like a gentleman's hobby.
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lamna
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Or, nobody had thought to do it at that point. For me naturalists are much more real scientists. I realise the chaps we have today can learn more, but I associate better with "real" things.
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lamna
Jan 20 2009, 03:31 PM
Is that like a nutritionist? Just a made up thing?
Oh no it was a joke... Here's what it really is XD

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Magizoology



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Viergacht
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Mad science.

Mmm, but seriously, evolutionary psychology.
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lamna
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You mean like how because humans came from a rainforest and moved on every night that we assume there will always be food and we don't have to worry about our waste?
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Viergacht
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lamna
Jan 21 2009, 02:38 AM
You mean like how because humans came from a rainforest and moved on every night that we assume there will always be food and we don't have to worry about our waste?
Among other peculiarities, yep.
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Paralith
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Jan 8 2009, 03:35 AM
I used to want to study evolutionary biology, but really what use is it in our world? I want to study biology for more practical purposes so I'm growing more interested in studying ecosystems and how each species, climates, soil types, human factors, etc affect the ecosystem, and how it could change.
Ah, but you will not be able to fully understand how living organisms respond to changing environments without an understanding of how they evolved and why, and how they may be evolving or will evolve in the future in response to these changes. No matter where you go in biology you cannot avoid evolution, so don't worry about it.

I'm in grad school for evolutionary anthropology, and I'm particularly interested in behavior, which inevitably leads me to a lot of evolutionary psychology. (And on a side note, our ancestors haven't lived in rainforests for at least 6 to 7 millions years. The ecology which has likely shaped most of our current psychology is hunter-gatherers in a savannah/bush setting.) However, I'm leaning more towards non-human primates these days, so we'll see where that goes.
Edited by Paralith, Jan 24 2009, 10:52 PM.
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lamna
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Thanks, I read that in psychology book ages ago. It had weird ideas why horses are so popular with girls.

And all science has to do is add to human knowledge. I does not need any other value.
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Paralith
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You have to be a little careful with evolutionary psychology. A lot of people in that field tend to think sex is the be-all and end-all of reproductive success, and with humans that's just not the case - we have offspring that require extensive care in order to be successful. They also like to use the western undergraduate college student as the ideal test subject from which to extrapolate to human behavior across the world.
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lamna
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I'm a bit iffy about psychology as a whole really. It's probably the science I trust the least, almost on a par with how most people view all science.

There are many important things learned from it but it does not seem as real to me something like botany or astronomy.
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ATEK Azul
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i am a fan of biology and all the stuff in it.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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