2. Alternate Theoretical Approaches

2. Alternate Theoretical Approaches
As a hypothesis, the assignment of all exposed errors to incompetence
is unpersuasive. The range of circumstances, even in the very small data set
of exposed cases, is extremely broad. Errors have been committed in
obscure local law enforcement agencies by unheralded practitioners
(Trogden)356 and by the elite of the profession in the highest profile cases
imaginable (Mayfield).357 These examples suggest that error does not
necessarily require an explanation; it is part of normal practice and is hardly
surprising. All areas of scientific and technical practice are infused with
error and have to confront and try to understand their own sources of error.
Indeed, in some areas of science, like astronomy, as Professor Alder has
recently eloquently described, the understanding of error is, in some ways,
the core of the scientific work. 358