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Science is an organism that needs an immune system. At a systemic level, it needs to be hard to get away with this kind of thing.
by haberman 11y ago
Science is an organism that needs an immune system. At a systemic level, it needs to be hard to get away with this kind of thing.
- entwife 11y agoThe immune system of science is the peer review system and other mechanisms to reduce faulty science. This author points out published papers that made it past that immune system, and it some cases became part of it (e.g. as peer reviewers). What analogous structure in the immune system could repair problems with the system itself?
- haberman 11y agoYes, the article describes how certain "viruses" have learned how to beat the current immune system. That just means the immune system needs to evolve to address the new threats. In nature, immune systems evolve based on natural selection. We need to keep trying new things and see what works. Maybe "peer review" needs to extend not only to individual papers, but to scientists and institutions themselves. Maybe their reputation needs to be evaluated over time so that a scientist who has been "infected" then has a standing presumption against their work until they can overwhelmingly demonstrate they are "healed." This idea might be good or might be terrible, but I believe that we should be trying things like this to see if any of them stick and cause more good than harm.
- ArkyBeagle 11y agoBut there is a cost problem with that, and behind the cost problem is a funding problem. "The servant is the one who takes the money" - Lawrence of Arabia.