| Feynmann's classic "Cargo Cult Science" for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. And for those of us who think it should be read and re-read at least annually and the time has come: https://sites.cs.ucsb.edu/~ravenben/cargocult.html It's a 5 minute read. Arguably the 5 most intellectually productive minutes we can spend. (Well at least for me, anyway). Now that ESP, paranormal, telekinesis research is thoroughly dead, (exposed by magicians like James Randi?), psychology still remains mired in it all. To the credit of a minority in that field they're having a go at getting it back to science and I wish them all the luck in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis My understanding is that for vast amounts of "What food is healthy, what kills you." Research, epidemiological studies is all we have. They're obviously limited, easy to get wrong, easy to fool yourself (and you're the easiest person to fool!) The supply of identical twins, who are willing to commit to life long diet differences with rigor and make all the same choices outside of the study is, well, kinda low. The statistics being used for these things is still under active development and being improved. Can it ever be done properly? Well I guess so. I think we're pretty clear on the smoking, cancer, heart disease, stroke link nowadays, right? And those studies have to have been similar. It's interesting that scientists have to raise funding, publish or perish and so on to even have a career at all making them part P.T. Barnum. Fenymann, for all he didn't need to do that because of the different era, reflected "glory" from Los Alamos etc. really was capable of putting P.T. Barnum to shame while at the same time being the most devout adherent to and proselytiser of scientific principle & purity. So good and so lucky he could keep his hands clean? Is there no academic misconduct in physics nowadays? None? I'd believe you if you told me so & why. |
Perhaps I'm slow, but that was every bit of a 15 minute read for me.