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Shane's avatar

Interesting position. A counterargument would be the phenomenon of reputation traps in scientific research. A good example is the Fleishman and Pons cold fusion announcement. After the initial frenzy in the media, and the rush to replicate the results, there was an equally frenzied denouncing due to the first few groups failing to replicate easily. By the time a few groups did report anomalies consistent with replication, the news cycle had moved on. And now if a mainstream researcher decides to study "cold fusion" or even the rebranded "low energy lattice confined nuclear reactions" the knee-jerk response is that the person is a crank and all that was "debunked" decades ago. Meanwhile the anomalous observations continue to accumulate in the margins, but the phenomenon gets only a tiny fraction of the energy it deserves (especially compared to huge hot fusion projects which are going nowhere fast).

A positive example of the phenomenon is Mendel's data on genetic inheritence. Subsequent statistical analysis of his data showed it was too perfect to be real. He most likely "hand polished" the data in his notes. At the time, this may have helped convince other people that the theory was real, though if it had been discovered he was cherry picking data then who knows what would have happened. The same is true for millikans calculation of the charge on the electron with his very fiddly apparatus that took years to refine (IIRC- I know one of these seminal particle property experiments features the experimenter hand picking experimental runs that showed the "correct" result and discarding the rest).

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Tara Perrot's avatar

Unfortunately, most scientists are caged by the granting systems that provide funds. I completely agree that crazy ideas should at times be pursued and can lead to more innovation (or maybe just a cool learning experience) but when you have five years to ‘accomplish’ all the mundane experiments you proposed in your grant you had best stay within the lines and get it done if you want another five years of funding - and all that comes with it, like grad students, money to publish in open access journals, etc....

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