gratulating a brilliant man on pulling the wool over the eyes of a bunch of scientists. It took a smart man to accomplish such a feat. I regard the submission of a paper whose contents the author believes to be false as a breach of scientific or academic ethics. It may be funny.but none of us have the time and go out and verify other people's conclusions. We have to take it on faith that everyone else is being honest. This probably isn't outright fraud, as fabricating data is. But it is certainly unethical (Baez). HELLO?!?!?!Take it on faith that everyone is being honest???? Where are you from? Never, never, never put trust in someone you don't truly know. That's part of the point, that the editors didn't have the time to go out and make sure Sokal's essay was kosher. They didn't have the time because it would take too long to review something that was too technical and they didn't understand. In other words, they shouldn't be editing for a publication if they don't know what they are talking about.If this happened more often the system would break. Would you agree to review papers, or edit a journal, if you always had to worry about whether the authors were trying to pull a fast one on you, and whether you would look bad if you erred on the side of kindness and recommended acceptance (Baez)? If it happened more often then maybe editors would take a closer look at what was being submitted to their publication. And then they would have to know what the hell they were talking about and be able to block essays such as Sokal's hoax from being published.Sure, this is the kind of practical joke that is really funny to think about playing. And it's even funnier when you play it. But the next day it's a lot less funny (Baez). This kind of joke IS funny, but I think it's only a lot less funny only to those who it was directed to. Again, Sokal had a point to get across and had the guts to actually go so far as to get it in print...
