(December 19, 2010 at 6:23 am)ziggystardust Wrote: I was referring to the scientists who have some fame among the general public. For example in the well known evolutionary scientists such as Ken Miller, Richard Dawkins, Edward O Wilson, Stephen Jay Gould and others don't even bother to put Doctor or Professor in front of their name when dealing with the public. Despite they are perfectly entitled to, because they have those qualifications.
I see. I always hated it when any of them used their title. You could argue that I am just jealous because I don't have one, sure, but to me it makes them come across as arrogant and superior. (I was once told by a PhD that I suspervised that what I told them was wrong and I couldn't know what I was talking about because I didn't have a PhD and work in a lab. To this person's credit, they did apologize when they found I was correct.) I was watching a video of Jason Lisle once and, as you said, he referred to himself several times as Dr. Lisle. It did seem like he was throwing around the title as there didn't appear to be any other reason for him to use the title given the context and the fact that the talk was given to those who would tend to agree with him anyway. All this to say, I guess, that I agree with you on this point Ziggystardust.
