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by lmm 888 days ago
You're right that most people have neither the need nor the ability to recreate the data themselves. But the same applies to using open-source software in the first place: most people who use OSS have neither the need nor the ability to compile the software from source themselves. But the whole point of OSS is that that source is available for those who want to use it, whether to study it, to diagnose a bug, or something else. I think the same is true for the LHC's technical details or a model's training data: most people won't recreate it at home, but it's important to make it available, and even someone who can't rebuild the whole thing themselves might spot an important bug or omission by going through the data collection details.