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> instead of "the excitement was good for everyone" they might realize these hoaxes harm scientific integrity. Totally disagree. If anything, this whole episod

> instead of "the excitement was good for everyone" they might realize these hoaxes harm scientific integrity. Totally disagree. If anything, this whole episode (debacle?) reinforced the fact that science works and the process played out exactly how the scientific process should work: 1. First, the paper was originally posted on arxiv, meaning it was a pre-print and didn't go through any peer review. So the vast majority of comments I saw on it was "Wow, this would be really cool, if it turns out to be true." 2. Immediately many labs around the world started trying to replicate the results. And very quickly there were some negative results that came back. 3. The thing that I think is so cool is not only did negative results come back, but from TFA people now have a very good understanding of why the initial analysis was incorrect. That's great science. One may argue that this was really a failure in media communication vs. the actual underlying science, but if anything it teaches appropriate skepticism, especially when a report is initially published, without peer review, without yet being replicated, that ends with the sentence "We believe that our new development will be a brand-new historical event that opens a new era for humankind."

penjelly 3y ago
good points. I can agree to that. However, I do think something did break down and I think your assessment below is more accurate than my initial take. > One may argue that this was really a failure in media communication vs. the actual underlying science the scientific process and scientists here are innocent, media not so much in my eyes.
- hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
  Yeah, I think Professor Moriarty in the video comes to a similar conclusion - he does say "in that sense is science working", and goes on to lament the problems with misinformation in the social media age. I can definitely sympathize with the frustration of scientists having to deal with so much social media bullshit, and people who so confidently believe "My ignorance is as equal as your hard work and experience." That said, I really loved that Sixty Symbols video for a couple reasons: 1. First, Moriarty was pretty much exactly spot on in his skepticism: the reduction in resistivity is not the behavior you'd expect to see in a superconductor (turned out to be due to copper sulfide impurities), and that the floating in a magnet behavior is not that surprising and could be due to diamagnetism. 2. I wasn't previously that familiar with diamagnetism beyond a vague "I remember hearing about that", so this whole thing led me known the wikipedia rabbit hole to find out about diamagnetism which was really interesting to me. 3. Professor Moriarty explains "this is not how you do science" (bad science by over-hyped press release is at least as old as cold fusion) and gives very good advice on how you should do good science in an age of Arxiv.
  - wslack 3y ago
    Got it - so the scientific community's reaction (trying to replicate) was ok but the initial authors messed up with their pre-print? That's fair.
- glenngillen 3y ago
  While we’re talking about things working as they should, even when frequently the opposite is true… what a wonderful discourse this was between two people disagreeing and then coming to find common ground. Thank you for providing such a great example to all of us.
- thereddaikon 3y ago
  >media not so much in my eyes. The media is often wrong about many things. Sometimes due to ignorance. Others negligence. And occasionally its malicious. If anyone figures out how to fix that without destroying freedom of the press they should get a nobel.
- fwipsy 3y ago
  The news articles I saw about lk-99 were all fairly skeptical. https://www.google.com/search?q=lk-99&sca_esv=557962971&biw=1920&bih=978&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A7%2F21%2F2023%2Ccd_max%3A7%2F31%2F2023&tbm=nws https://www.google.com/search?q=lk-99&sca_esv=557962971&biw=...

penjelly 3y ago

good points. I can agree to that. However, I do think something did break down and I think your assessment below is more accurate than my initial take. > One may argue that this was really a failure in media communication vs. the actual underlying science the scientific process and scientists here are innocent, media not so much in my eyes.

hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
Yeah, I think Professor Moriarty in the video comes to a similar conclusion - he does say "in that sense is science working", and goes on to lament the problems with misinformation in the social media age. I can definitely sympathize with the frustration of scientists having to deal with so much social media bullshit, and people who so confidently believe "My ignorance is as equal as your hard work and experience." That said, I really loved that Sixty Symbols video for a couple reasons: 1. First, Moriarty was pretty much exactly spot on in his skepticism: the reduction in resistivity is not the behavior you'd expect to see in a superconductor (turned out to be due to copper sulfide impurities), and that the floating in a magnet behavior is not that surprising and could be due to diamagnetism. 2. I wasn't previously that familiar with diamagnetism beyond a vague "I remember hearing about that", so this whole thing led me known the wikipedia rabbit hole to find out about diamagnetism which was really interesting to me. 3. Professor Moriarty explains "this is not how you do science" (bad science by over-hyped press release is at least as old as cold fusion) and gives very good advice on how you should do good science in an age of Arxiv.
- wslack 3y ago
  Got it - so the scientific community's reaction (trying to replicate) was ok but the initial authors messed up with their pre-print? That's fair.
glenngillen 3y ago
While we’re talking about things working as they should, even when frequently the opposite is true… what a wonderful discourse this was between two people disagreeing and then coming to find common ground. Thank you for providing such a great example to all of us.
thereddaikon 3y ago
>media not so much in my eyes. The media is often wrong about many things. Sometimes due to ignorance. Others negligence. And occasionally its malicious. If anyone figures out how to fix that without destroying freedom of the press they should get a nobel.
fwipsy 3y ago
The news articles I saw about lk-99 were all fairly skeptical. https://www.google.com/search?q=lk-99&sca_esv=557962971&biw=1920&bih=978&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A7%2F21%2F2023%2Ccd_max%3A7%2F31%2F2023&tbm=nws https://www.google.com/search?q=lk-99&sca_esv=557962971&biw=...