I'm disappointed to hear Penn endorse Mythbusters as "science". They're pseudo scientific entertainment at best.

That doesn't surprise me at all. Penn has a vastly inflated sense of the probity of his skepticism; if you watch his "Bullshit!" series, you'll see that he cares more about ridiculing his subject - trashing reputation via condescension and slanted interviews - than he does about any sort of critical analysis of the subject.

I love the Mythbusters. I think they're incredibly entertaining, and their approach is not entirely without merit. But scientists they are not, unless you're Penn Gillette, for whom the term means "people whose findings I agree with."

The myth-busters never claim they are scientists, they de-bunk rumor's and tall-tales. Penn and Teller's act is about enlightening their viewer. This seemed like a logical choice for an interview

This show is definitely doing it's part in helping to dispel people's long held but rarely demonstrable superstitions and urban myths. Even if some of them are quite ridiculous to begin with...

I believe Adam & Jamie have recently expressed their desire to get into some of the more herculean "myths" such as creationism & others. Doubt it would survive the approval phase though...

I don't believe they operate under the pretense that they are scientists. Their show, which sometimes does not pass as scientific rigor, teaches the audience about how to formulate a question and probe it experimentally. That aim, I think, is both useful and worthwhile. I would not criticize them too harshly because they aren't PhD physicist and engineers. They do a fine job, and they are fun to watch. Moreover, they are willing to explore valid critiques made their audience and I think the majority of their experiments satisfy the conclusion of whether or not something is confirmed, plausible, or busted.

I'm actually disappointed in the opinions here on what you deem to be science.

Definition of Science :
"systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation."

If you do so much as put a lighter to your butt when you are about to fart, just to see what will happen, THAT is science. I'll admit that it's not a formal form of science as we know guys in lab coats with beakers mixing chemicals, but it is still science because of the advancement of knowledge through observation and participation.

Now, are the Mythbusters "scientists"? (def : "A person having expert knowledge of one or more sciences, especially a natural or physical science. ")

No. But then they even admit that they aren't experts. And I think that, as they say here, that is the part of the Mythbusters that the viewers enjoy most.

Just normal Joes trying stuff out.

My issue is that they set out to prove or disprove something through experiment and testing with little to no adherence to the scientific method.

I admit I've only seen maybe a dozen episodes, but in nearly all of them they will present and explain the myth, devise an experiment which cannot possibly prove or disprove that myth, perform the experiment and then claim proof or disproof.

It may or may not be their fault that people take their research seriously, but unfortunately people do.

They do think critically about their problems, and come up with quick, often semi-flawed, often seriously strange ways to begin to investigate (which are typically much more entertaining than the approach a trained scientist would take). Its a lighthearted show that does cool things with a well stocked warehouse of toys, and I'll be damned if I don't enjoy it. And if they encourage amateur science, even rough and ragged versions, I think thats great.

Running control's, monitoring repeatability, and performing statistics, etc., aren't exceedingly entertaining in my book, but thats just me. I do recall them presenting research at the beginning of many shows, with interviews of scientists, engineers, medical doctors, etc., but from that point on typically its "we think this contraption will test this concept, and now lets build it and light the wick...".

I think my favorite was the episode in which they fired bullets from increasingly high-powered weapons into a pool of water to test how likely diving into water to avoid bullets would help you (as is frequently seen in movies).

... so you have this visceral fun of guys firing huge guns into a local pool, and then there's a significantly un-intuitive ending that could, of course, have been tested more rigorously, but because the finding were so dramatic and made sence upon retrospective thought about the physics of the situation, ... well, it made good tv.

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