The scientific record is not a load-bearing structure. It survived because it was something that only academics cared about. Now that publishing is being used as a source to pull metrics from and The Science* is being used a source of political arguments, we’re in a really unstable and dangerous position.
* I want to be clear that I’m very much in favor of science-based policy, but giving The Science credit and blame is not a tenable path forward, because science is hard and there will be mistakes. The way to do it is to have public figures analyze where the field is and stake their professional reputations on interpreting it correctly. Individual professional reputation is the load bearing structure of a serious society.
* I want to be clear that I’m very much in favor of science-based policy, but giving The Science credit and blame is not a tenable path forward, because science is hard and there will be mistakes. The way to do it is to have public figures analyze where the field is and stake their professional reputations on interpreting it correctly. Individual professional reputation is the load bearing structure of a serious society.