In her article, “Science Isn’t Broken,” Christie Aschwanden- a science and health journalist and recipient of a Santa Fe Institute Journalism Fellowship in Complexity Science- discusses the consequences resulting from the recent lack of peer-review, the portrayal of the scientific community due to these effects, and the true nature of research.
According to Aschwanden (2015), one of the prominent contributors to the public’s lack of confidence in science is statistical manipulation and biases. This relates to O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. Cathy O’Neil is a mathematician who has worked for numerous universities, the finance industry, and as a Data Scientist Consultant. This particular book of hers explores the …show more content…
She states, “human fallibilities send the scientific process hurtling in fits, starts and misdirections instead of in a straight line from question to truth” and “to make science more reliable, we need to adjust our expectations of it” (2015). Scientists put a lot of effort into their experiments that are fueled by their hope that they will succeed, so they are inclined to believe it worked-when it did not- due to their investment in the project. The scientific community today is not taught in universities nor molded by the scientific process to appreciate how failing is a learning process and can ultimately lead to future success. In “The importance of stupidity in scientific research,” Schwartz (2008) explains that “the more comfortable we become with being stupid, the deeper we will wade into the unknown and the more likely we are to make big discoveries.” As easy as it may sound to “be stupid,” Schwartz is speaking of a stupidity that drives scientists to find solutions; curiosity driving research not hope that it will
According to Aschwanden (2015), one of the prominent contributors to the public’s lack of confidence in science is statistical manipulation and biases. This relates to O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. Cathy O’Neil is a mathematician who has worked for numerous universities, the finance industry, and as a Data Scientist Consultant. This particular book of hers explores the …show more content…
She states, “human fallibilities send the scientific process hurtling in fits, starts and misdirections instead of in a straight line from question to truth” and “to make science more reliable, we need to adjust our expectations of it” (2015). Scientists put a lot of effort into their experiments that are fueled by their hope that they will succeed, so they are inclined to believe it worked-when it did not- due to their investment in the project. The scientific community today is not taught in universities nor molded by the scientific process to appreciate how failing is a learning process and can ultimately lead to future success. In “The importance of stupidity in scientific research,” Schwartz (2008) explains that “the more comfortable we become with being stupid, the deeper we will wade into the unknown and the more likely we are to make big discoveries.” As easy as it may sound to “be stupid,” Schwartz is speaking of a stupidity that drives scientists to find solutions; curiosity driving research not hope that it will