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>Or for Pete's sake... Why do we assume that the Coffee Association is promoting bad science for their interests, rather than finding scientists who are workin

>Or for Pete's sake... Why do we assume that the Coffee Association is promoting bad science for their interests, rather than finding scientists who are working on things that relate to their business, and supporting those works? Who else is going to fund coffee studies besides people with an interest (and money) to fund it? This is how the free market works; as long as the science is sound, who cares who is behind it? I'd rather the coffee industry pay for the studies from excess profits than it coming from the public coffers. It's not perfect, but it isn't full on corruption, either.

enraged_camel 14y ago
>>Why do we assume that the Coffee Association is promoting bad science for their interests, rather than finding scientists who are working on things that relate to their business, and supporting those works? This is the exact equivalent of the coal industry finding the minority of scientists who think climate change is not man-made and funding their studies. The problem with this is obvious, and it is not good science. >>This is how the free market works; as long as the science is sound, who cares who is behind it? Often times, those who are funding the science have an impact on whether that science is sound. It's called a conflict of interest because the source of the funding can corrupt the motivation of the scientist to practice good science.
- deleted 14y ago
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- jacobwcarlson 14y ago
  > This is the exact equivalent of the coal industry finding the minority of scientists who think climate change is not man-made and funding their studies. No it isn't. This isn't about coal or climate change. It's about whether or not it's ok for people to drink coffee. If you think they've published bad science you should prove it. That's the awesome thing about science, it's refutable.
  - qq66 14y ago
    Not as easy as that: the coffee industry can easily spend $6 million to promote its interests, but there isn't an "anti-coffee" industry that can spend $6 million to refute those studies. This principle of "organizability" is one of the big drivers of political power -- those who can organize into an interest group win.
czr80 14y ago
Congratulations, you've just discovered one reason why the free market isn't the best system to organise basic science research.
krishnakv 14y ago
In this case, the article is clearly a piece that's advocating coffee drinking. When research crosses over from "setting up and experiment and proving/ disproving a hypothesis" to "advocating something as good or not good in general", its important to look at the source of funding and apply a heavy discount on the validity of the research if its advocating "for the money". This is not research "related" to coffee, so your hypothesis is not valid in this instance.

enraged_camel 14y ago

>>Why do we assume that the Coffee Association is promoting bad science for their interests, rather than finding scientists who are working on things that relate to their business, and supporting those works? This is the exact equivalent of the coal industry finding the minority of scientists who think climate change is not man-made and funding their studies. The problem with this is obvious, and it is not good science. >>This is how the free market works; as long as the science is sound, who cares who is behind it? Often times, those who are funding the science have an impact on whether that science is sound. It's called a conflict of interest because the source of the funding can corrupt the motivation of the scientist to practice good science.

deleted 14y ago
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jacobwcarlson 14y ago
> This is the exact equivalent of the coal industry finding the minority of scientists who think climate change is not man-made and funding their studies. No it isn't. This isn't about coal or climate change. It's about whether or not it's ok for people to drink coffee. If you think they've published bad science you should prove it. That's the awesome thing about science, it's refutable.
- qq66 14y ago
  Not as easy as that: the coffee industry can easily spend $6 million to promote its interests, but there isn't an "anti-coffee" industry that can spend $6 million to refute those studies. This principle of "organizability" is one of the big drivers of political power -- those who can organize into an interest group win.

czr80 14y ago

Congratulations, you've just discovered one reason why the free market isn't the best system to organise basic science research.

krishnakv 14y ago

In this case, the article is clearly a piece that's advocating coffee drinking. When research crosses over from "setting up and experiment and proving/ disproving a hypothesis" to "advocating something as good or not good in general", its important to look at the source of funding and apply a heavy discount on the validity of the research if its advocating "for the money". This is not research "related" to coffee, so your hypothesis is not valid in this instance.