A Kingdom For An Honest Scientist?

Allysia Finley’s “How ‘Preapproved Narratives’ Corrupt Science” argues the reason “so many Americans don’t trust science any more is that “too many scientists no longer care about science” aka “the search for truth.”

It’s taken many years to come to this cynical view of “science,” the one thing that was supposed to protect us from agenda-driven journalists & opportunistic political demagogues. As Ms. Finley notes, it was “in 2005 that Stanford epidemiologist John Ioannidis wrote an essay titled ‘Why Most Published Research Findings Are False’ … He contended that scientists ‘may be prejudiced purely because of their belief in a scientific theory or commitment to their own findings.’” As Dr. Ioannidis argued, “The greater the financial … & prejudices in a scientific field, the less likely the research findings are to be true …” Even the so-called fact-checking “peer review” system, the doctor said, is subject to the same corrupting forces that “suppress findings challenging their own beliefs …” Other honest scientists, the WSJ columnist says, have similarly exposed the gamesmanship since. The list of examples is long. Fast forward to 2023.

Ms. Finley suggests the impact of this deteriorating belief in the traditional “scientific method” BY SCIENTISTS THEMSELVES is finally being felt in the public’s present-day changing attitudes toward such hot button items as climate & Covid research. But, wait. Anyone with common sense can see with or without the rose-colored glasses being worn by many “experts” that spending trillions on green energy projects hasn’t significantly moved the needle in moderating global warming. Meanwhile, as a separate WSJ article points out, Americans are increasingly souring on the need for Covid boosters on top of Covid boosters. That immunity from immunization didn’t happen overnight, Alyssia. The proof’s always been in the pudding for all to see, not pudding head scientists.

Davd Soul