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Wine and Martin Gardner - A Sceptical Science
Tuesday, 17th April, 2012
- David Farmer
| Martin Gardner |
I have been readings the essays of Martin Gardner and the tributes to this greatest of all science journalists. Gardner taught me that to be a good sceptic it helps to have been a magician as only they truly know how easy it is to fool people.
In an essay titled 'Exposing Crackpots and Charlatans', Robert Carroll writes; "He introduced us to a bizarre world populated by the likes of L.Ron Hubbard, Rudolf Steiner, Edgar Cayce, Bridey Murphy, and a host of other crackpots and charlatans on the fringe. He taught us that crackpots and charlatans are dangerous. They should not be ignored but instead thoroughly exposed for what they are by detailed critical analysis."
There is that name again, Rudolf Steiner, a first rate crackpot but much loved by many in the business of making wine who take inspiration from his bizarre teachings and practice a vineyard system termed bio-dynamic farming. In Gardner's book; 'Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science' he notes the prototypical pseudo-scientist "has a tendency to write in complex jargon, in many cases making use of terms and phrases he himself has coined." That is Steiner.
I quite like the idea of bio-dynamic farming as it's a great marketing term, indeed a lot of Steiner's teachings while fairy tales provide good copy and for example people pay to listen and read the ravings of practitioners such as Nicolas Joly. It seems to me it does little harm and is likely to be good for selling wine and certainly allows wine lovers to pretend and dream about tastes and nuances which do not exist. The difficulty I have is with those who actually believe it is true, and especially if that person has taken a degree in wine science. The slightly cynical or advantageous I understand but the poseur is a bit much.
Perhaps letting a sub-set of winemakers carry on with mystical beliefs is not as innocent as it has seemed to me and I doubt Gardner would be happy with my relaxed view to the cult of bio-dynamism.
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