I usually try to steer clear of anything political in this blog because, frankly, I find the subject usually pretty distasteful, especially as it’s handled on the Internet. They say politics makes strange bedfellows, which is true, but they don’t mention the corollary that writing about politics makes a bunch of smelly, weird strangers jump into your bed. Frankly, I’d rather avoid the attention.
From the furthest fringes of the outside looking in, this was enlightening and fun to read. Are we still allowed to do that? Could you throw in a stealth ad for something so I don't get whiplash?
This is really depressing and is, for me, another an eye-opening example of how systems create incentives that ultimately govern everything we do.
There's a simplistic view of science that reduces to "the neutral arbiter vs motivated reasoning" but alas, as in most areas of life, nothing is quite as black and white as we would like.
Valid enough, but this sort of thing is not always the way things work. Generally speaking, researchers do want true results. I’ve known some that were very meticulous in the gathering of data, sharing equipment designs with other research groups hoping to gain cross-checks. I’m trying to say, a lot of scientific data is worthwhile and valid. The majority?
The incentives in ALL fields weigh against it. Not sure I should tell you more, but profs sometimes don’t make budget; when they do, after the sponsoring university gets its cut the remainder goes to the prof. Personally. At least at one major university, it does. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t all. So money can be quite the incentive to take shortcuts.
Thank you for writing this article. I am not particularly well versed in data sets, or scientific research BUT I AM old enough to know that “the sky is falling” has been shouted from the rooftops for 6 of my decades (I don’t count the first one because I wasn’t listening.) I found the story about wild fires and how it was plugged “global warming” to be especially enlightening. Between humans actually setting the fires, much less money put in to forest management and then some dude tweaking a wild fire story to align with an agenda, truly disturbing!
From the furthest fringes of the outside looking in, this was enlightening and fun to read. Are we still allowed to do that? Could you throw in a stealth ad for something so I don't get whiplash?
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My dreams are coming true in the daytime.
Great article!
We need more people willing to admit what is really going on behind the scenes of scientific research and publication.
Reminds me of Toto pulling the curtain back,exposing the “Wizard of Oz”!
As an old software engineer would say, “crap in” = “crap out”. Or something to that effect...
This is really depressing and is, for me, another an eye-opening example of how systems create incentives that ultimately govern everything we do.
There's a simplistic view of science that reduces to "the neutral arbiter vs motivated reasoning" but alas, as in most areas of life, nothing is quite as black and white as we would like.
Valid enough, but this sort of thing is not always the way things work. Generally speaking, researchers do want true results. I’ve known some that were very meticulous in the gathering of data, sharing equipment designs with other research groups hoping to gain cross-checks. I’m trying to say, a lot of scientific data is worthwhile and valid. The majority?
Who knows.
Yeah, but I think the incentives in some fields weigh against being honest about data.
The incentives in ALL fields weigh against it. Not sure I should tell you more, but profs sometimes don’t make budget; when they do, after the sponsoring university gets its cut the remainder goes to the prof. Personally. At least at one major university, it does. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t all. So money can be quite the incentive to take shortcuts.
Thank you for writing this article. I am not particularly well versed in data sets, or scientific research BUT I AM old enough to know that “the sky is falling” has been shouted from the rooftops for 6 of my decades (I don’t count the first one because I wasn’t listening.) I found the story about wild fires and how it was plugged “global warming” to be especially enlightening. Between humans actually setting the fires, much less money put in to forest management and then some dude tweaking a wild fire story to align with an agenda, truly disturbing!