Science is not a Democracy

as opponents of “consensus” keep saying, not understanding or pretending not to understand that consensus is not achieved by voting.

Scientific organizations are democracies, though, and can be gamed. Consider:

Message to the American Physical Society’s
Topical Group on the Physics of Climate (GPC), Authorized by
Ken Minschwaner, Secretary-Treasurer of GPC
***************************************************************
Dear GPC Members:

We are pleased to announce the results of the GPC 2012 election.

Please join us in welcoming Judy Curry as the newest Member-at-Large to
the Executive Committee of the GPC. Congratulations Judy!

For the other Member-at-Large open position, there was no majority
decision and a run-off election must be held between the two candidates
with the highest vote count. These two candidates are Daniel H. Rothman
and Stephen E. Schwartz.

We expect to open this run-off election soon and would appreciate your
participation in helping to shape the direction and future activities
of the GPC. An email announcement with ballot instructions will be sent
out shortly.

Thank you very much for your assistance.

Ken Minschwaner, Secretary-Treasurer of GPC
Brad Marston, Chair of the GPC Nominating Committee

This is unfortunate. Curry is a very nice person but is unwilling or unable to have intellectual standards.

This result is perhaps something resembling how fundamentalists took over so many school boards in America. When people expect their democracies to run themselves, they don’t.