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Worth rereading; "Time to assume that health research is fraudulent until proven otherwise?" from no less a source than the British Medical Journal [0]. Another

Worth rereading; "Time to assume that health research is fraudulent until proven otherwise?" from no less a source than the British Medical Journal [0]. Another example; 5-HTTPLPR studies [1] in psychiatric research (over 450, "proving" the effects of the gene on basically every psychological malady) stretching all the way back to 1996. [0]: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/07/05/time-to-assume-that-health-research-is-fraudulent-until-proved-otherwise/ https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/07/05/time-to-assume-that-hea... [1]: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/05/07/5-httlpr-a-pointed-review/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/05/07/5-httlpr-a-pointed-rev...

gilrain 4y ago
Unfortunately, this has become a rational precaution. Capitalism has thoroughly undermined humanity’s greatest tool.
- MattPalmer1086 4y ago
  Well, the problem is one of misaligned incentives rather than capitalism per se. From the BMJ article: "Researchers progress by publishing research, and because the publication system is built on trust and peer review is not designed to detect fraud it is easy to publish fraudulent research. The business model of journals and publishers depends on publishing, preferably lots of studies as cheaply as possible. They have little incentive to check for fraud and a positive disincentive to experience reputational damage—and possibly legal risk—from retracting studies. Funders, universities, and other research institutions similarly have incentives to fund and publish studies and disincentives to make a fuss about fraudulent research they may have funded or had undertaken in their institution—perhaps by one of their star researchers." Capitalism is certainly the economic context we operate in, but I'd hardly say it is the root cause of most of the above, which could apply equally in other economic funding models.

gilrain 4y ago

Unfortunately, this has become a rational precaution. Capitalism has thoroughly undermined humanity’s greatest tool.

MattPalmer1086 4y ago
Well, the problem is one of misaligned incentives rather than capitalism per se. From the BMJ article: "Researchers progress by publishing research, and because the publication system is built on trust and peer review is not designed to detect fraud it is easy to publish fraudulent research. The business model of journals and publishers depends on publishing, preferably lots of studies as cheaply as possible. They have little incentive to check for fraud and a positive disincentive to experience reputational damage—and possibly legal risk—from retracting studies. Funders, universities, and other research institutions similarly have incentives to fund and publish studies and disincentives to make a fuss about fraudulent research they may have funded or had undertaken in their institution—perhaps by one of their star researchers." Capitalism is certainly the economic context we operate in, but I'd hardly say it is the root cause of most of the above, which could apply equally in other economic funding models.