ADVOCACY IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH SCIENCE Sorry. The state has created the problem o

ADVOCACY IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH SCIENCE

Sorry. The state has created the problem of bad science like it has created almost all other ‘bads’ in our society.

Advocacy is the job of public intellectuals.

Facts are the job of scientists.

Skepticism is the job of citizens.

Judith Curry’s blog is fascinating to read – the moral hazard of scientific advocacy is inescapable, but there are a thousand regulatory prognostications a day, none of which will make any difference. People follow incentives. And advocacy makes for bad science. Books are the only advocacy that science appears to make possible. Papers are merely property claims on intellectual products. The are IP rights for ideas among scholars, scientists, and academics.

Advocacy is advertising for grant money.