Author Topic: The largest scientific experiment in history was Peer Review itself and it failed  (Read 322 times)

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Offline rangerrebew

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The largest scientific experiment in history was Peer Review itself and it failed
By Jo Nova

Peer Review has been a sixty year experiment with no control group
Disruptive Science Papers decline. Graph.It’s touted as the “gold standard” of science, yet the evidence shows Peer Review is an abject failure.

There are 30,000 scientific journals that publish nearly 5 million articles a year, and the only thing we know for sure is that two-thirds of papers with major flaws will still get published, fraud is almost never discovered, and peer review has effectively crushed groundbreaking new discoveries.

By Adam Mastroianni, Experimental History

The rise and fall of Peer Review
Why the greatest scientific experiment in history failed, and why that’s a great thing

For the last 60 years or so, science has been running an experiment on itself. The experimental design wasn’t great; there was no randomization and no control group. Nobody was in charge, exactly, and nobody was really taking consistent measurements. And yet it was the most massive experiment ever run, and it included every scientist on Earth.

https://joannenova.com.au/2023/05/the-largest-scientific-experiment-in-history-was-peer-review-and-it-failed/
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Offline DefiantMassRINO

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Peer-reviews are no substitute for control groups.

Peer-reviews by members of mutual admiration societies will lead to more mutual admiration, not empirically verifiable quantitative results that can withstand third-party scrutiny.
"It doesn't matter what temperature the room is, it's always room temperature." - Steven Wright

Online Bigun

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Peer-reviews are no substitute for control groups.

Peer-reviews by members of mutual admiration societies will lead to more mutual admiration, not empirically verifiable quantitative results that can withstand third-party scrutiny.

 :yowsa: Quite true!
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
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Offline Smokin Joe

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Peer-reviews are no substitute for control groups.

Peer-reviews by members of mutual admiration societies will lead to more mutual admiration, not empirically verifiable quantitative results that can withstand third-party scrutiny.
Yep.
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis