Corruption....

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
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Certainty and science

A scientific theory is empirical, and is always open to falsification if new evidence is presented. That is, no theory is ever considered strictly certain as science accepts the concept of fallibilism. The philosopher of science Karl Popper sharply distinguishes truth from certainty. He writes that scientific knowledge "consists in the search for truth", but it "is not the search for certainty ... All human knowledge is fallible and therefore uncertain.[32]"

Theories very rarely result in vast changes in our understanding. According to psychologist Keith Stanovich, it may be the media's overuse of words like "breakthrough" that leads the public to imagine that science is constantly proving everything it thought was true to be false.[33] While there are such famous cases as the theory of relativity that required a complete reconceptualization, these are extreme exceptions. Knowledge in science is gained by a gradual synthesis of information from different experiments, by various researchers, across different domains of science; it is more like a climb than a leap.[34] Theories vary in the extent to which they have been tested and verified, as well as their acceptance in the scientific community. For example, heliocentric theory, the theory of evolution, and germ theory still bear the name "theory" even though, in practice, they are considered factual.[35]

Philosopher Barry Stroud adds that, although the best definition for "knowledge" is contested, being skeptical and entertaining the possibility that one is incorrect is compatible with being correct. Ironically then, the scientist adhering to proper scientific method will doubt themselves even once they possess the truth.[36] The fallibilist C. S. Peirce argued that inquiry is the struggle to resolve actual doubt and that merely quarrelsome, verbal, or hyperbolic doubt is fruitless[37]—but also that the inquirer should try to attain genuine doubt rather than resting uncritically on common sense.[38] He held that the successful sciences trust, not to any single chain of inference (no stronger than its weakest link), but to the cable of multiple and various arguments intimately connected.[39]

Stanovich also asserts that science avoids searching for a "magic bullet"; it avoids the single cause fallacy. This means a scientist would not ask merely "What is the cause of...", but rather "What are the most significant causes of...". This is especially the case in the more macroscopic fields of science (e.g. psychology, cosmology).[40] Of course, research often analyzes few factors at once, but this always to add to the long list of factors that are most important to consider.[40] For example: knowing the details of only a person's genetics, or their history and upbringing, or the current situation may not explain a behaviour, but a deep understanding of all these variables combined can be very predictive.

Science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As long as this methodology is followed then the action in question can be considered "scientific". Any action that does not stick to this methodology is not scientific. If you can show how this methodology is corrupt, then you would have a more explicit grounding for why science is also inherently corrupt.
 

darkbeaver

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Bar Sinister wrote "Don't confuse the pharmaceutical industry with other branches of science. Those creating drugs for profit have a strong motive to fudge data. That is very far from real science. Real science is much more open when it comes to debating new ideas. Most new scientific discoveries or theories are subject to rigorous peer review. Claiming that "scientists just do whatever the heck they want" shows a profound misunderstanding of science and the scientific method as it is practiced worldwide."

This is a very important observation; it calls for a clarification of the concept "scientist." Most often this term is used to describe a person preoccupied with an investigation of the physical world. That seems to be too broad. I suggest the following definition: "a scientist is a person who is not only preoccupied with physical matters but is also trustworthy." By "trustworthy" I mean "does not hide anything from other scientists."

Here is one example. A claim was made, about a year ago, that a desirable energy-producing device was invented in Italy. About a mounth ago a prototype was actually demonstrated at Bolognia University. The inventor, Professor Rossi, did not answer the question about the catalyst mixed with the nickel powder inside. One of my colleagues was present at the demonstration, standing next to it. He brought a portable instrument able to analyze nuclear radiation escaping from the device. But the demonstrator did not allow him to turn the instrument on. Because of this, I no longer think that professor Rossi is a scientist.

How would secrecy be justified by Rossi? He would probably refer to undesirable competition, or to possible future difficulties with patenting the device. I understand this. Secrecy is OK, but only up to the time at which the invention is publicly announced. A true scientist would not prevent my colleague from turning the instrument on; a true scientist would provide information about the chemical composition of the powder. He might be a good engineer but he is no longer a scientist, by my definition.


Ludwik

P.S. I have a master degree in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics.

P.S. Here is a link:

Hope Grows as Journals Weigh in on Italian Cold Fusion Breakthrough

Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia)

I forgot to add the link with details. here it is:

Hope Grows as Journals Weigh in on Italian Cold Fusion Breakthrough

Thanks for the links. I like scientists and I like science. If I didn't I wouldn't be so damned angry at what con artists and money have done to the institutions and the reputations of many very good scientists. It is up to the institutions of science to salvage their reputations while they still may. You can readily see what is done to and said against anyone who would question those scientific institutions. They have forgotten if indeed they ever knew that criticism is always to be welcomed by the scientific community, if not for that critical evaluation, nothing would or could ever be discovered. So science is and has always been one of the pillars of human evolution. It must be, as far as humanly possible, free from the corrupting temptations of money and power and above all institutional stagnation.
 

wulfie68

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I'm a believer that scientists can be corrupted thus their results can be. ANY time you have someone invested in the possible outcome of an experiement or the acceptance of a theory, the possibility of their being able to ignore data/conclusions that don't match their expectations, the possibility of that corruption becomes greater. The motives can be driven by financial gain (as given in the examples of various industries trying to protect their profit margins) or it can be in protecting one's established reputation: a degree, be it a bachelor's, master's or doctoral, does not make one immune to lapses in ethics. This can happen in a number of ways, from manipulation of the process or variables in an experimental setting to bring forth a desired result, fudging data to again achieve the desired result and it can filter through into the peer review aspect where reviewers can be chosen who are of a similar mindset or have the same vested interests and/or bias as the authors of the theory/experiment/paper.

I do think a distinction needs to be made between intentional corruption of data and honest mistakes made based on the best information available at the time, however. We keep going back to errors that have been proven in older theories, that modern techniques and equipment have been able to disprove. We can even compare variations in technique such as qualitative observation (as used by the ancient Greeks) vs quantitative observation (which leads us into our modern statistical theories). This also leads into the old point that just because there is incompetence, doesn't mean malice is involved. There are a lot of good people who make mistakes based on incomplete information, because it is the best they have available.
 

darkbeaver

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Certainty and science

Science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As long as this methodology is followed then the action in question can be considered "scientific". Any action that does not stick to this methodology is not scientific. If you can show how this methodology is corrupt, then you would have a more explicit grounding for why science is also inherently corrupt.

Scientific methodology is not questioned by the OP or me. So, one more time, neither the scientific method nor science itself is under attack. The OP clearly lays out the parameters of the discussion to be "corruption in science". What we want to explore the human aspects of science and not the science itself.
 

Avro

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Thanks for the links. I like scientists and I like science. If I didn't I wouldn't be so damned angry at what con artists and money have done to the institutions and the reputations of many very good scientists. It is up to the institutions of science to salvage their reputations while they still may. You can readily see what is done to and said against anyone who would question those scientific institutions. They have forgotten if indeed they ever knew that criticism is always to be welcomed by the scientific community, if not for that critical evaluation, nothing would or could ever be discovered. So science is and has always been one of the pillars of human evolution. It must be, as far as humanly possible, free from the corrupting temptations of money and power and above all institutional stagnation.

Man....are you ever funny.:lol:

I'm a believer that scientists can be corrupted thus their results can be.

Of course and as kowolski has pointed out the scientific community quickly puts an end to it.

Tobacco companies hid behind fringe scientists for years and now those same scientists have moved on to more profitable industries like coal, oil, gas and chemical firms.
 

mentalfloss

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Scientific methodology is not questioned by the OP or me. So, one more time, neither the scientific method nor science itself is under attack. The OP clearly lays out the parameters of the discussion to be "corruption in science". What we want to explore the human aspects of science and not the science itself.

Of course, and duly, if the act is simply meant for profit or is a con - it's not an act of science. I agree that Big Pharma has a lot of blood on its hands - and the moment these companies start producing drugs that are derivatives of earlier drugs under a new name just so they can rake in some extra profit.. that is precisely the moment they stop practicing science. They also have to forsake being part of the scientific community as it might be.

As an aside - there are actually examples where Western medicine and pharmaceuticals could actually be defended for practicing science. One prime example is the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. Shamans and leaders promote these fake natural remedies as a rebellion against Western medicine and this in turn, has stalled their ability to contain the virus. Western drugs, by comparison, have been explicitly manufactured to slow down the evolutionary process of the virus where natural remedies fail.

This is science.

Pumping out Zanthrax version 7.8 to make a buck is a good way to remove your company and any of its 'scientists' from the scientific community.
 

darkbeaver

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Bill Gates says - Vaccine safety skeptics kill children!




Dr Andrew Wakefields research has now been validated and corroborated by several other researchers, not that you would think that by listening to Bill Gates. The MMR vaccine is present in a majority of cases of autism. The fake researcher who wrote terrible things about Dr Wakefield has been exposed as having vested interests - for the vaccine manufacturers.
Bill Gates is not a doctor, he's not medical in any way, and certainly could not replicate the work of Wakefield. Being good at operating systems does not qualify Gates to make statements at the cutting edge of medical research in the bodies immune system.

Of course, and duly, if the act is simply meant for profit or is a con - it's not an act of science. I agree that Big Pharma has a lot of blood on its hands - and the moment these companies start producing drugs that are derivatives of earlier drugs under a new name just so they can rake in some extra profit.. that is precisely the moment they stop practicing science. They also have to forsake being part of the scientific community as it might be.

As an aside - there are actually examples where Western medicine and pharmaceuticals could actually be defended for practicing science. One prime example is the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. Shamans and leaders promote these fake natural remedies as a rebellion against Western medicine and this in turn, has stalled their ability to contain the virus. Western drugs, by comparison, have been explicitly manufactured to slow down the evolutionary process of the virus where natural remedies fail.

This is science.

Pumping out Zanthrax version 7.8 to make a buck is a good way to remove your company and any of its 'scientists' from the scientific community.

Odd you should pick HIV/AIDS (whatever that is) as good scientific practice. Isn't it the case that no virus has been isolated with repect to AIDS?
 

mentalfloss

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Yes, it's true - the vaccine had no effect on producing any signs of autism. Unfortunately, the media glamorized the study and despite the fact that there were studies that showed otherwise, this one received unmitigated attention which lead to higher rates of autism in the late 90s and 2000s.

It's unfortunate, but the belligerence of the anti-vaccination movement has cost lives elsewhere, just as my example regarding HIV vaccinations.

Costs to society from declining vaccination rates (in US dollars) were estimated by AOL's Daily Finance in 2011:[132]

  • A 2002–2003 outbreak of measles in Italy, "which led to the hospitalizations of more than 5,000 people, had a combined estimated cost between 17.6 million euros and 22.0 million euros".
  • A 2004 outbreak of measles from "an unvaccinated student return[ing] from India in 2004 to Iowa was $142,452".
  • A 2006 outbreak of mumps in Chicago, "caused by poorly immunized employees, cost the institution $262,788, or $29,199 per mumps case."
  • A 2007 outbreak of mumps in Nova Scotia cost $3,511 per case.
  • A 2008 outbreak of measles in San Diego, California cost $177,000, or $10,376 per case.

MMR vaccine controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Odd you should pick HIV/AIDS (whatever that is) as good scientific practice. Isn't it the case that no virus has been isolated with repect to AIDS?

It's the case that the best attempts to isolate the virus have been the ones facilitated through western medicine and practical science. The reason being is that HIV as a virus evolves extremely quickly within the host to latch onto certain cells. Recent vaccines cannot destroy the virus, but can at least confuse it into latching onto non-immunity cells.
 
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Avro

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Dr Andrew Wakefields research has now been validated and corroborated by several other researchers, not that you would think that by listening to Bill Gates. The MMR vaccine is present in a majority of cases of autism. The fake researcher who wrote terrible things about Dr Wakefield has been exposed as having vested interests - for the vaccine manufacturers.
Bill Gates is not a doctor, he's not medical in any way, and certainly could not replicate the work of Wakefield. Being good at operating systems does not qualify Gates to make statements at the cutting edge of medical research in the bodies immune system.

Wakefield is a fraud
 

darkbeaver

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Man....are you ever funny.:lol:



Of course and as kowolski has pointed out the scientific community quickly puts an end to it.

Tobacco companies hid behind fringe scientists for years and now those same scientists have moved on to more profitable industries like coal, oil, gas and chemical firms.

There is no such governing body such as "the scientific community". In the first sentence you put words in Dr Kolwalskils mouth implying that science is a self repairing human institution and in the second sentence speak of untrustworthy tobacco scientists moving on to greener pastures with thier credentials intact. What possible fix do you imagine you see in there?
 

darkbeaver

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candidate’s children

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Louis Hissink
Art Robinson put together the petition against climate alarmism signed by 31,000+ U.S. scientists and unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Peter DeFazio in OR-4 last year. However now we find there might be political payback in progress.
On Nov. 4, 2010, as soon as the election results were in and they were sure their candidate had won, faculty administrators at Oregon State University gave new meaning to the term “political payback.”
They initiated an attack on my three children – Joshua, Bethany and Matthew – for the purpose of throwing them all out of the OSU graduate school, despite their outstanding academic and research accomplishments. OSU is a liberal socialist Democrat stronghold in Oregon that received a reported $27 million in earmark funding from my opponent, Peter DeFazio, and his Democrat colleagues during the last legislative session.
Thus, Democrat activist David Hamby and militant feminist and chairman of the nuclear engineering department Kathryn Higley are expelling four-year Ph.D. student Joshua Robinson from OSU at the end of the current academic quarter and turning over the prompt neutron activation analysis facility Joshua built for his thesis work and all of his work in progress to Higley’s husband, Steven Reese. Reese, an instructor in the department, has stated that he will use these things for his own professional gain. Joshua’s apparatus, which he built and added to the OSU nuclear reactor with the guidance and ideas of his mentor, Michael Hartman, earned Joshua the award for best Masters of Nuclear Engineering thesis at OSU and has been widely complimented by scientists at prominent U.S. nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, faculty member Todd Palmer notified four-year Ph.D. student Bethany Robinson (OSU grade point average 3.89) that he was terminating her thesis work and taking all of her work in progress for himself. Some of Bethany’s graduate work has already been used, without credit to Bethany, in the thesis of another favored student now recently hired on the department faculty.
Palmer, until recently married to a member of the OSU psychology faculty, is now married to former OSU student Camille Lodwick. They are both faculty members in the nuclear engineering department.
It is also rumored that Higley, a long-time associate of Palmer’s and who is adamant that Bethany leave OSU, may dislike Bethany because of criticism Higley received when department students complained of sexual assault at wild drunken parties of OSU nuclear engineering students during taxpayer-financed trips to scientific meetings. These incidents may have been more likely because Higley had failed to report to OSU authorities an earlier instance of milder sexual harassment against Bethany, probably because Bethany – a brilliant but very mild-mannered, conservative, homeschooled Christian young lady – does not share Higley’s views.



H/T Junkscience and more here

HEADLINE STORY JOHN O'SULLIVAN NASA PIERS CORBYN SATELLITEGATE
John O'Sullivan: As another NASA Climate Satellite Explodes – Conspiracy or Incompetence?: Updated by Piers Corbyn
Friday, March 4th 2011, 9:47 AM EST
Co2sceptic (Site Admin)
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Cynics suggest foul play as NASA rocket explodes and yet another crucial space mission to measure global warming ends in disaster.

Reports are that a catastrophic system failure of the second NASA’s ‘Glory’ Satellite is believed to have caused the craft to crash into the ocean somewhere near Antarctica. The onboard Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) was a satellite system designed to measure how tiny airborne particles in the atmosphere affect the earth’s climate.

Satellitegate conspiracy talk reared its ugly head again as soon as the rocket exploded shortly after take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.The satellite was, in fact, a replacement for the first OCO that also exploded in 2009 in similarly strange circumstances. Again, cynics are suggesting foul play.

The OCO system was designed to be instrumental in finally settling the global warming debate.The satellite would have been able to show precisely how much energy is falling from the Sun onto Earth.

Thus scientists could have precisely calculated how much, if at all, human emissions of carbon dioxide were altering the climate and may have proved that the scare over man-made global warming has been a hoax all along.

Updated below with comments by Piers Corbyn

More Proof to Deepen the SatelliteGate Scandal?

With yet another $250 million investment now laying on the bottom of the ocean floor the world is again left without reliable measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

As this author first exclusively reported in 2010, there are grave and persistent problems not only with both the OCO rockets but other satellites designed to measure climate change as shown here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

The OCO was “the only satellite in the world that will do the kind of global collection we need,” said James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and one of the authors of a 2010 report on satellite monitoring of climate change. “And we haven’t thought about how to replace it.”

So will this turn out to be yet another ugly chapter in the Satellitegate scandal? A news conference is scheduled for later today to discuss this failure and how NASA will proceed. For updates check the NASA website here

Posted by Piers Corbyn (Twitter) on Mar 5th 2011, 9:27 PM EST
John,
Pointed stuff. I wondered exactly the same myself when I saw the news but if it is sabotage rather than incompetence a trail of ill-considered and deliberate decisions which led to this outcome needs to be established.

I would nevertheless comment that IF the satellite had done or ever does do it's job:-

1. Whatever the measurements of incoming radiation ETC I don't think they would "PROVE" or "DISPROVE" what the GWers want, not only because the CO2 supposed effect would be at a lower level but because they - as a new quasi religious sect - have dispensed with evidence. No amount of facts will stop the GWers and their media propagandists producing their insane 'cold is warm' subtle quasi-feedback loop falsities any more than Colonel Gaddafi will admit he is unpopular in Libya while facts prove otherwise.

2. The evidence I am sure would NOT help the GWers but more to the point it may give useful evidence of the atmospheric responses to solar activity (particles etc) which we regularly predict* mainly in terms of their end effects - eg coldest Brit/Europe December in 100 yrs; specific USA blizzards; Specific Tropical cyclone formations off Queensland. That could help further extend our Weather Action SLAT (Solar Lunar Action Technique) of long range forecasting.
(* eg News from WeatherAction )

3. For a very very tiny fraction of the money spent on these two explosions of taxpayers money we could extend our detailed long range forecasting of extreme weather events to cover most of the world years ahead.

Thanks,
Piers Corbyn, astrophysicist, ARCS, FRAS, FRMetS
MD WeatherAction.com long range weather & climate forecasters



 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
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Yea, politicans are douchebags.

There have already been plenty of satellites that have measured the increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. You think this is the first? Where the hell have you been? lol If anything, the deniers are thankful it crashed into the water. This hit piece is much better propaganda than another confirmation of what we know already.

Also, it's already been shown how colder winters are a direct result of AGW.

If your only response to the science is some quote from Corbyn that it is some elaborate quasi-religion, then you need to try harder.
 

darkbeaver

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Yea, politicans are douchebags.

There have already been plenty of satellites that have measured the increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. You think this is the first? Where the hell have you been? lol If anything, the deniers are thankful it crashed into the water. This hit piece is much better propaganda than another confirmation of what we know already.

Also, it's already been shown how colder winters are a direct result of AGW.

If your only response to the science is some quote from Corbyn that it is some elaborate quasi-religion, then you need to try harder.

I'm beginning to think that you don't actually want to discuss divisions in science. I hope you're not one of those idiots who have a scientific bible and permit the issuance of special dispensations for entrenched theory. Dr Corbyn actually can forecast the weather. He clearly demonstrates his methodological utility. Colder winters have not been shown to be caused by AGW because AGW has not been shown to be happening.
Anywho it's been very nice interacting with you and I hope you get well soon.
 

darkbeaver

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Fluffs were my favourite cereal when I was small. Now I want some. I have no idea if they are still to be had. You have reached me on a deeper level than I thought possible.