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A Big Study About Honesty Turns Out to Be Based on Fake Data

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Re: A Big Study About Honesty Turns Out to Be Based on Fake Data

#7
Science is a process, a way to find truth. It is not in itself truth. It is subject to all the same human flaws and venality as any other human endeavor.

Just because something is published in a paper doesn’t make it true. Just because the paper was peer reviewed doesn’t make it true. Just because there is a “consensus” doesn’t make it true.

I’m sick and tired of people saying “the science is settled” or “trust the science”. These statements indicate a fundamental misunderstanding of what science is and how it works (or fails) in the modern world.

The modern scientific method is still, in my opinion, the most powerful way we have of learning how things work, but it is not without flaws. This is just another cautionary tale.

Re: A Big Study About Honesty Turns Out to Be Based on Fake Data

#9
post #7

Science is a process, a way to find truth. It is not in itself truth. It is subject to all the same human flaws and venality as any other human endeavor. Just because something is published in a paper doesn’t make it true. Just because the paper was peer reviewed doesn’t make it true. Just because there is a “consensus” doesn’t make it true. I’m sick and tired of people saying “the science is settled” or “trust the s…

Great take. What I find most difficult is how humans naturally want certainty one way or the other, or an opinion either on this side or this side. Side with us or against us. As opposed to reality, which has nuances, probabilities, and pros and cons depending on the stakeholder / perspective.

Re: A Big Study About Honesty Turns Out to Be Based on Fake Data

#10
"Now some are questioning whether the scientist himself is being dishonest" kinda undersells it. The debunking offers numerous pieces of stone cold proof that the paper is straight-up academic fraud: https://datacolada.org/98

And since the post says "the fourth author has made it clear to us that he was the only author in touch with the insurance company", it seems clear that Ariely personally fabricated the data.

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