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There was a similar issue with power laws in biology, mostly driven by a guy named Barabasi. I don't think any of his results have held up when someone did the
by madhadron 8y ago
There was a similar issue with power laws in biology, mostly driven by a guy named Barabasi. I don't think any of his results have held up when someone did the math right, but he's gone so far as to try to politically pressure people to keep quiet about it because they were hurting his career.
I've been out for a few years, so I don't know what the current state of affairs is.
- scottishcow 8y agoSurprised to hear this about Barabasi, I'm no physicist but enjoyed reading his books on network science as a layperson. Is there any published criticism against his work? His papers get cited everywhere, I know citations are more metric of popularity than scientific quality but I find it puzzling that his work continues to get attention if the results don't hold up.
- madhadron 8y agoYou could start with Pachter's sendup (https://liorpachter.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/the-network-nonsense-of-albert-laszlo-barabasi/ https://liorpachter.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/the-network-non...), and the Wikipedia article on Barabasi has a short section on criticisms. I read his work, figured out it was nonsense, and put him on the list of authors whose papers I automatically threw in the garbage. Kim Lewis is another one of those.