Empirical science and the scientific method, in principle, are great ideas. However, their effectiveness in practice depends on the integrity of those who use them. And in today’s culture, and scienctific culture, there are many forces that are undermining the science.
These forces include the pressure to publish or perish, the influence of commercial interests (pharma) providing money to scientists, the evolutionary bias in science, the liberal media which filters and spins scientific discoveries way out of proportion in the direction of their liberal biases, misrepresenting the importance or meaning of the discoveries. And here’s yet another example of how and why scientists, like those in the recent debacle over stem cells, are lying about their data more and more.
- Would Scientists Lie?
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports today that a large percentage of research scientists admit to fabricating or manipulating data because of a sense of "being wronged." Reporter Lila Guterman explains that The Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics will report that "perceived injustice" and scientific misbehavior are linked.
