Eugine_Nier comments on Alternative Places to Get Ideas (Also, “In Defense of Food”)

Eugine_Nier 28 Dec 2010 2:13 UTC
2 points

1) Very little of the Hansonian critique of medicine involves researchers making stuff up, and I doubt this is a major problem.

Sorry about that, I didn’t meant more generate results based on statistical noise, then outright faking research.
- XFrequentist 28 Dec 2010 2:22 UTC
  2 points
  Parent
  Ah. Then yeah that’s a problem, but I’m not sure why this would be worse with recent research.
  
  This article gives a pretty good overview of the shortcomings of medical statistics, and includes one of my favorite lines ever:
  
  Such sad statistical situations suggest that the marriage of science and math may be desperately in need of counseling. Perhaps it could be provided by the Rev. Thomas Bayes.
  - Eugine_Nier 28 Dec 2010 4:49 UTC
    3 points
    Parent
    
    Ah. Then yeah that’s a problem, but I’m not sure why this would be worse with recent research.
    
    Because the earlier stuff, e.g., sanitation, vaccines, and antibiotics, had a stronger effect and thus was easier to notice above the noise.
    - mwengler 1 Jan 2011 1:03 UTC
      0 points
      Parent
      And also the older stuff has been around long enough to get the bad results beaten out of it.