This is 100% pure, distilled truth, and explains
why so much junk science gets tossed around in the Universities:
The
reward system for academics is to have a provocative idea get published
in a high impact journal, and increasingly to garner some media
attention for the research. Whether or not the idea turns out to be
correct is not of particular importance in the reward system for
academics.
For
professionals in engineering, finance, the world of regulations, etc.,
there are typically serious penalties for getting it wrong, i.e. if the
bridge collapses. As a result, due diligence, verification and
validation, uncertainty analysis, auditing etc. are essential elements
of the profession.
Now if the principal activity of a field of science is to push the
knowledge frontier, then being right in a long term sense isn’t all that
important. However, when a field of science is operating at the policy
interface, e.g. climate science, then that field could learn some
valuable lessons from the professions.
As Curry says, this isn't a real problem with a lot of science - say, a new taxonomy of dinosaurs. However, this becomes critical when public policy gets made based on the published findings. Quite frankly, this is likely the single most important reason that public policy should be extremely skeptical of science as it's currently done.
I wonder if we couldn't jin up some 'scientific study' that says the world would be a better place if all the people of an ultra-liberal (read statist) philosophy were eliminated from the planet.
ReplyDeleteExpect results could include elimination of global warm (those gas bags are causing it), elimination of income inequality ( let's face it, a liberal arts degree isn't worth much), and end human suffering in dozens of countries (hello Venezuela, I'm looking at you).
Would the far left support it?