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No, the intent of the question was: do we still have trust into scientific information coming from China? We know that China government closely controls many as

by avmich 6y ago

No, the intent of the question was: do we still have trust into scientific information coming from China? We know that China government closely controls many aspects of life in their interests, so should we consider this an exception? Or, instead, should we wait for publication in a trustworthy source about "we were able to successfully repeat experiments, earlier reported from China, which demonstrate..."? I guess the matter of trust is for everybody to decide by themselves.

analog31 6y ago
Indeed, perhaps I should have said it a bit differently. There's certainly a potential issue with government influence over scientific research. But there's also an issue with any preliminary finding, and the same solution could address both issues. I considered the important finding is not necessarily the images, but the recipe for preparing a sample of the virus. If this recipe works, labs with better equipment or better techniques should be able to produce even better data. If the recipe doesn't work, it will be quickly apparent. There are known histories of government influence over science research with unhappy endings, such as the Lysenko affair, and probably global warming research in the US. Countries know that spewing out false scientific knowledge, if it's a solution for any problem, is a short term one. The Chinese government still has an interest in developing a good reputation in science. At least that's my take.
toast0 6y ago
> Or, instead, should we wait for publication in a trustworthy source about "we were able to successfully repeat experiments, earlier reported from China, which demonstrate..."? I mean, shouldn't we wait for that always rather than reporting unreproduced findings to people other than those who might reproduce it?
- analog31 6y ago
  I think so long as people understand how science works, or the journalists provide some explanatory insight about it, reporting interesting science news to the public should be OK. Scientists tend to be skeptical of systems that decide who should have access to information before others. Most findings are unreproduced. It usually takes someone with a reason to be interested, to reproduce a study.

by avmich 6y ago

analog31 6y ago

Indeed, perhaps I should have said it a bit differently. There's certainly a potential issue with government influence over scientific research. But there's also an issue with any preliminary finding, and the same solution could address both issues. I considered the important finding is not necessarily the images, but the recipe for preparing a sample of the virus. If this recipe works, labs with better equipment or better techniques should be able to produce even better data. If the recipe doesn't work, it will be quickly apparent. There are known histories of government influence over science research with unhappy endings, such as the Lysenko affair, and probably global warming research in the US. Countries know that spewing out false scientific knowledge, if it's a solution for any problem, is a short term one. The Chinese government still has an interest in developing a good reputation in science. At least that's my take.

toast0 6y ago

> Or, instead, should we wait for publication in a trustworthy source about "we were able to successfully repeat experiments, earlier reported from China, which demonstrate..."? I mean, shouldn't we wait for that always rather than reporting unreproduced findings to people other than those who might reproduce it?

analog31 6y ago
I think so long as people understand how science works, or the journalists provide some explanatory insight about it, reporting interesting science news to the public should be OK. Scientists tend to be skeptical of systems that decide who should have access to information before others. Most findings are unreproduced. It usually takes someone with a reason to be interested, to reproduce a study.