Glossary letter S

Machiavelli's Laboratory is a free ebook that I published on April 13, 2010. It is a satiric discourse on scientific ethics, from the perspective of an unethical scientist. Please don't take any of the advice and opinions in the book (or the excerpts featured in this blog) seriously. The ebook has been downloaded well over 10,000 times since its publication. This blog site features excerpts from the book and provides a forum for readers who would like to comment publicly.

GLOSSARY (letter S)

Scapegoat - An animal or human (usually a graduate student or technician) to which all sins can be transferred, after which the scapegoat is conveniently sacrificed to the gods. Every laboratory should be equipped with one or more of these indispensable tools.

Selfishness - A biological imperative. Evolution's "survival of the fittest," is just nature's way of telling you to look out for number one.

Semmelweis reflex - Dismissing the value of a novel scientific idea, without the benefit of thought. Occurs whenever a new idea is proposed or demonstrated by a non-authority (usually a young person, or a person who has worked in a different scientific discipline than yours). Named for Semmelweis, who proved that the number of patient deaths could be drastically reduced if the maternity room doctors washed their hands between patients; but the doctors decided they would rather not.

Stealing - The crime known as "stealing" is a lay term that cannot be applied to scientists. Scientists "pilfer"; they do not "steal", and pilfery is not a crime and is not a form of scientific misconduct. See Pilfer.

Stigler's Law of Eponymy - "No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." (67)

Synonym - "A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one," Baltasar Gracian.


- © 2010 Jules Berman