Can We Trust the Scientists?

So much has been made in recent times about ‘trusting the science’, which essentially means shutting down logic and reasoning and not questioning some scientific theories, that some might consider it a new form of blind faith.

Science isn’t meant to work like that. It’s never settled and anyone that maintains you cannot question scientific theory is more likely to be a shill than a scientist.

Then there is the fake science. The humbug that is used to push agendas. You’ve probably hear that 97% of scientists agree that man is causing climate change. That’s fake science because it simply isn’t true.

That particular study was rigged to get that result but it still doesn’t stop the naïve, the foolish or the deceitful from repeating it.

Now scientists themselves are concerned that a cottage industry of academic fraud was gaining credence in scientific journals.

A recent examination of 11,700 academic papers identified 712 that were suspicious. These papers are in part relied on to advance scientific research and, while not confined to China, these papers often flow out of Chinese universities.

According to the SMH:

Many universities have made publication a condition of students earning their masters or doctorates, and it is an open secret that the students fudge the data.

The universities reap money from the research grants they earn. The teachers get their names on the papers as contributing authors, which helps them to seek promotions.

Recently The Royal Society of Chemistry announced that 68 papers had been retracted from its journal RSC Advances because of “systematic production of falsified research”.

They aren’t alone. There are many, many more examples of academic and scientific fraud being published in reputable journals and being relied on to justify policy agendas..

I’m probably not alone in saying It’s a little tough to trust the science when we can’t trust the scientists or those responsible for vetting it.