What is often passed as science is not truly science. Indeed, what is often times presented as science is simply a caricature, a charade, of science. Or an outright lie. According to Dr. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the Lancet in an opinion piece that was simultaneously published in both the Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine --- the two leading medical journals in the English-speaking world, if not in the entire world --- stated: "The case against science is straightforward: much of the
scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue." (link)
Echoing these words, Dr. Marcia Angell --- editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine -- stated: "It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of the New England Journal of Medicine." (link)
In fact, this problem of the lack of reproducibility of published experiments and data in peer-reviewed science journals might be even worse than suggested by Drs. Horton and Angell. According to an article published in the online medical journal PLOS/Medicine the vast majority of published science is simple "false." (link)
How can this be? How has science become so compromised? Because science has become a commodity, to be packaged and sold to an audience. There is money to be made, and science is marketed to achieve that end. True or not, science sells.
Science is powerful. It has gotten us to the moon and back, it has extended the lifespan of the average human being to historical highs, and has unlocked the secrets of the atom. It has also allowed us to pollute our planet at levels that seem improbable (link) and created the ability --- a present reality! --- to exterminate all life on the planet, i.e., nuclear weapons. But science is also consummately human. We have "bad" science, because we are, simply put, "bad." We should expect the above observations to be normal, not exceptions. Contrary to what we are often taught in school and of which forms a foundational paradigm for our collective humanistic approach to reality, human beings are not intrinsically good. Collectively and individually we are fallen. As it reads in the New Testament book of Romans:
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As the British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge observed, "The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact." I could not have stated it better, and this helps us to explain all of the points written above. Parenthood teaches us this. I never had to teach my children to hit, to be selfish, to not share, and to bully. I had to teach them to not use violence, to not be selfish, to share, and to be empathetic and kind.
Where does this leave us? We're hopeless, except for Jesus. Thank God for Jesus!
Echoing these words, Dr. Marcia Angell --- editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine -- stated: "It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of the New England Journal of Medicine." (link)In fact, this problem of the lack of reproducibility of published experiments and data in peer-reviewed science journals might be even worse than suggested by Drs. Horton and Angell. According to an article published in the online medical journal PLOS/Medicine the vast majority of published science is simple "false." (link)
How can this be? How has science become so compromised? Because science has become a commodity, to be packaged and sold to an audience. There is money to be made, and science is marketed to achieve that end. True or not, science sells.
Science is powerful. It has gotten us to the moon and back, it has extended the lifespan of the average human being to historical highs, and has unlocked the secrets of the atom. It has also allowed us to pollute our planet at levels that seem improbable (link) and created the ability --- a present reality! --- to exterminate all life on the planet, i.e., nuclear weapons. But science is also consummately human. We have "bad" science, because we are, simply put, "bad." We should expect the above observations to be normal, not exceptions. Contrary to what we are often taught in school and of which forms a foundational paradigm for our collective humanistic approach to reality, human beings are not intrinsically good. Collectively and individually we are fallen. As it reads in the New Testament book of Romans:
As the British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge observed, "The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact." I could not have stated it better, and this helps us to explain all of the points written above. Parenthood teaches us this. I never had to teach my children to hit, to be selfish, to not share, and to bully. I had to teach them to not use violence, to not be selfish, to share, and to be empathetic and kind.
Where does this leave us? We're hopeless, except for Jesus. Thank God for Jesus!
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