Spring Thaw

[degringolade]

Realism / Aleksey Savrasov/ Spring Thaw

I think that the last eighteen months have led us to an odd place.   Science was seriously politicized when it was discovered that it could lead to the deserved downfall of Fuckwad the First.  Now, coming in is a bunch of information that leads one to believe that science became a political and bureaucratic tool in the process.

Let's talk about what happens when a single entity controls a field of research.  Especially if that research has the potential of becoming quite remunitive.  What happens is that the actual search for truth becomes quite controlled.  The persons who control the money to be used for research have very specific goals in mind (to make money), to do so, they pick and choose specific research goals and methodologies to fund.  This act of choice narrows the range of research considerably.  

But on top of that, the need to have a return on investment and marketable patents as a goal for research seriously limits the range of study and the tools to be used in the study to a narrow range of options.  This narrowing of methodologies also constraints true research.

But the most damaging of the results of the control of research is that the goal of return on investment corrupts the entire process.  Rather than fully understanding the issue, what this process does is create products to bring to market.

We are beginning to see the cracks developing in the edifice created over the last eighteen months.  The methodologies used to define the problem have been discovered as not quite up to the task (when the Nobel Laureate who invented the methodology states clearly and frankly that the methodology was not appropriate to the task assigned, that might have been a clue).  

The methods of treatment that would allow us to treat the condition have been slanted heavily toward the “return on investment modalities” with potentially effective generic options being attacked and relegated to second and third tier journals.  

Finally, let’s talk about the journals that have taken upon themselves the role of arbiters.  The journals themselves have become advertising platforms, heavily funded by the corporations whose long term wealth is the primary goal.

I have a sneaking hunch that these last eighteen months will prove in the end to be an exercise in corruption and hubris.  Let’s not kid ourselves, if we dig at this, I can’t see the cult of scientism being stronger upon completion.  

I have always said, I wasn’t worried about Fuckwad the First, I was always worried about what comes next.