I don't want to point a finger, but the same time period has seen explosive growth of the life sciences. Doing good science on "squishy stuff" is just plain har

I don't want to point a finger, but the same time period has seen explosive growth of the life sciences. Doing good science on "squishy stuff" is just plain hard, for two reasons: First, isolating a single cause and effect, is almost always impossible. Everything is multivariate and noisy. Second, many of the things we're urgently interested in learning involve human health and welfare, and there's probably a widespread feeling that we don't have a century or two to wait for solid answers. My day job involves designing measurement equipment, some of which is used in life science. I absolutely care about knowing whether a measurement is any good or not, to the point where it's not just a paycheck, but a true passion. And I work with people in actual research who care just as much, using my stuff to do front-line work. There are certainly problems, and I don't wish to defend the "publish or perish" system, but I don't think a cynical view of the causes is a complete or even accurate picture of what's going on.