this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2024
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Anyone calling themselves a "scientist"
Biologist, astronomer, mathematicians, these are all valid professions.
Scientist is not a profession.
Scientist is the broader category though. If a square says “I’m a rectangle” they aren’t lying.
It is but no educated person qualifies themselves by that name as it means nothing.
People seek to label themselves in the most accurate category not the broadest one.
I am shape.
I’m not sure that’s true. If you ask someone what they do for a living and they say, “I’m a doctor,” you don’t say, “I doubt it. A real doctor would say, ‘I’m a cardiovascular surgeon,’ or ‘I’m a pediatrician.’” We adjust our labels for our audience.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find a biologist or a climatologist who might just say, “I’m a scientist” to a broad audience. Not that they couldn’t use the more accurate label, just that they don’t necessarily have to.