[huijzer]

I’ve come to believe that science is mostly about popularity and not about truth-finding. As long as peers like what you write, then you will get through the reviews and get cited. Feynman called this Cargo Cult Science. I think much of science is like this, see also Why Most Published Scientific Findings are False. Not much has changed since the publication of that paper. A few Open Science checks are not gonna solve the fundamental misalignment of incentives.

[asynchronous]

Wholeheartedly agree, really a shame to see what it’s become. Wish I could still see research the way I dreamed it was as a child.

[strikelaserclaw]

it is impossible for most scientists to understand / critically think about all the research coming out from so many institutions, so most of these academics mainly focus on research coming from someone they respect / institutions they respect, so yes it is kind of like a popularity contest but i would argue that most things in life are due to the limited nature of the human brain we cannot think independently about everything for ourselves and rely on external judgements to what is important / true etc...

[rustymonday]

It is absolutely a popularity contest. The biggest problem is that many academics are reluctant to deviate too far from current consensus in fear of damaging their reputation.

The result is that research in many fields tends to stagnate and reinforce old ideas, regardless of whether they are right or wrong.

[arvinsim]

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." -- Upton Sinclair