> it simply doesn’t matter very much whether any particular paper is reproducible
If we are talking about highly abstract types of science, I agree entirely. The problem is that there are strong incentives for groupthink, even where public politics aren't involved.
For example, I'm involved in the aging field. One of the popular aging hypotheses was oxidative stress. Because of the number of scientists with careers invested in that hypothesis, research kept on for well over a decade after it was debunked. In fact, I work with a person who cowrote the paper that authoritatively debunked it over a decade ago, and that person still studies it and writes as if it were still true!
How much more so if the subject is politicized beyond a narrow community of scientists, then. I do not want to get into a political debate here, but evolution and vaccinations have over a century of scrutiny, whereas other fields do not.
Another example relatively close to my area is nutrition. Scientists have been totally convinced that fat is bad, sugar is bad, both are bad, all things are good in moderation... Even the public considers nutrition to be a joke for this reason. It is not enough for a community of scientists to agree on something, a fact needs time to "settle".
I agree totally with the "process vs individual paper" distinction, I would just propose the heuristic that "the more politicized the subject, the longer the process takes".
> I don’t know many good scientists who take what they read (in any journal) at face value
Sure, in journal club people tear apart papers. And maybe in private conversation. But then, on the other hand, look at the statistics in this survey. Or look at the way this same papers that they might privately pooh-pooh will be uncritically cited in a grant application or paper if it supports their hypothesis.
If we are talking about highly abstract types of science, I agree entirely. The problem is that there are strong incentives for groupthink, even where public politics aren't involved.
For example, I'm involved in the aging field. One of the popular aging hypotheses was oxidative stress. Because of the number of scientists with careers invested in that hypothesis, research kept on for well over a decade after it was debunked. In fact, I work with a person who cowrote the paper that authoritatively debunked it over a decade ago, and that person still studies it and writes as if it were still true!
How much more so if the subject is politicized beyond a narrow community of scientists, then. I do not want to get into a political debate here, but evolution and vaccinations have over a century of scrutiny, whereas other fields do not.
Another example relatively close to my area is nutrition. Scientists have been totally convinced that fat is bad, sugar is bad, both are bad, all things are good in moderation... Even the public considers nutrition to be a joke for this reason. It is not enough for a community of scientists to agree on something, a fact needs time to "settle".
I agree totally with the "process vs individual paper" distinction, I would just propose the heuristic that "the more politicized the subject, the longer the process takes".
> I don’t know many good scientists who take what they read (in any journal) at face value
Sure, in journal club people tear apart papers. And maybe in private conversation. But then, on the other hand, look at the statistics in this survey. Or look at the way this same papers that they might privately pooh-pooh will be uncritically cited in a grant application or paper if it supports their hypothesis.