Science Is Broken

http://www.scienceisbroken.org/

by bmahmood • 13 years ago

34 25 13 years ago

djkn0x• 13 years ago

There are some funny quips here (like "#WhenIGraduate I'm going to work for McKinsey because the hours are better"), but I like how each is paired with a pretty sobering 'fact'. For instance I was surprised that a postdoc scientist makes roughly the same as a McDonalds Store Manager (~$39k).

jpdoctor• 13 years ago

> For instance I was surprised that a postdoc scientist makes roughly the same as a McDonalds Store Manager (~$39k).

The joys of supply and demand.

dnautics4• 13 years ago

The McDonald's Store Manager is helping feed people. What is the average postdoc doing for the world? (I say this as a postdoc)

mtrn• 13 years ago

I once saw a research group leader talk his head off, why what his group was doing was innovative, even though the committee thought otherwise - even though most of the people in the room knew he was just trying to secure funds and the work they've done wasn't nearly as revolutionary as it was advertised. Not the most uplifting experience, but reality I guess.

tankbot2• 13 years ago

Serious question:

What is the point of this site?

ExpiredLink• 13 years ago

Classic science was conducted to gain knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Modern 'science' is conducted to serve an economic purpose. Classic science is on the decline in favor of result-driven studies.

dnautics4• 13 years ago

I'd say modern science is conducted to serve a political purpose, too. The story of how the NCI got started (as told in The Emperor of All Maladies) is a good example.

Giant supercolliders and fusion tokamaks are also basically national [anatomy] measuring contests.

tankbot2• 13 years ago

Arguable, but let's assume that is true.

It still doesn't tell me the purpose of this site. Are they trying to raise awareness? Affect change? Is it a feeler probe to test a niche website? Are they religious fundamentalists who want to decry science in the name of god?

I don't know, so I asked.

tedsanders• 13 years ago

I'm not sure if I agree. There are many examples of science and math being developed to solve problems. Pasteur's Quadrant is an interesting book on the dual nature of science for the sake of science and science for the sake of applications.

rthomas6• 13 years ago

It looks like it's trying to generate activism and awareness about funding cuts due to the pending sequester, honestly.

Mz• 13 years ago

I don't know and cannot find anything like an "about" page. It could be humor. It could be venting. It could be some guy managing a McDonald's trying to tell relatives to get off his back about the career they thought he should pursue. Unless someone here is the creator, knows the creator, or can provide a link to an interview, I don't think we can answer that.

mrcactu5• 13 years ago

Science is broken. It's just this site is redonkulous.

Strilanc2• 13 years ago

Skimmed around the site for all of 30 seconds and saw this [1]:

> Only 0.1% of published exploratory research is estimated to be reproducible.

Which sounds downright absurd. Only one in one thousand studies are even in principle able to be performed again? So I followed the reference.

As far as I can tell, it doesn't say that. Based on skimming the reference[2], I think the 0.1% number comes from the section "An Example: Science at Low Pre-Study Odds".

It is not talking about reproducibility, it is talking about p-values. It is not talking about studies in general, it is talking about a specific type of study (whole genome association). It assumes statistical mistakes are made on purpose, as opposed to estimating how often this is done in reality, and that the prior probability of a given association being true is 10^-4. The example-of-a-bad-study study barely moves that probability to 1.5 * 10^-4 (that's why it's a good example of a bad study), which the quote rounds back down to 0.1%.

The quote is an egregious exaggerations, especially for a site criticizing a method of gaining knowledge. Hopefully the whole site is not like that.

1: http://www.scienceisbroken.org/posts/30 edit: it appears that the fact changes every time. I don't know how to link it.

2: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal...

ByronT• 13 years ago

Science is broken is broken.

Strilanc2• 13 years ago

(Oops) I said p-values above when I meant probability-of-being-true instead of probability-of-null-hypothesis-being-true-given-data.

nathell• 13 years ago

Immediately reminded me of #stillnotsignificant:

http://mchankins.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/still-not-signific...

(see also the hashtag on Twitter)

zallarak• 13 years ago

I don't understand the purpose of this website. Yes, universities, the government and certain institutions fail at science (we all are aware of the publishing rat race and countless instances of misplaced priorities). However, scientific progress is incredible & undeniable and to discredit it due to the angst of certain people is weak. If you love science and are sick of academia, you have options, or make your own options. I have a problem with this website because its simply a bi%$#fest.

STRiDEX• 13 years ago

"We want free government money" -Everyone

Science may be broken, but a lot of these sound like first world problems. Academic books aren't purchased for me either!

cahitonur• 13 years ago

to be able to break science, you need scientific methods, talking only is not enough.

Science Is Broken

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