April 17 Interview Response Post - Stuart Firestein

I chose to watch the interview on uncertainty in science with Stuart Firestein. Here is the link to the video: https://www.labxchange.org/library/pathway/lx-pathway:53ffe9d1-bc3b-4730-abb3-d95f5ab5f954/items/lx-pb:53ffe9d1-bc3b-4730-abb3-d95f5ab5f954:lx_simulation:9041b2ca?source=%2Flibrary%2Fclusters%2Flx-cluster%3AModernPrediction&fullscreen=true

1. I think there are two things that will stay with me from this interview. The first is how he describes science and the scientific method as a way to be “childishly curious and skeptical” in a very adult way. I think that is a very interesting way of looking at things. Science and academia as a whole is seen as a very lofty and inaccessible thing, but many researchers are driven by that basic childish curiosity. The methods used and real world implications of the research makes it very “adult”. The second thing that will stick with me is the quote “revision is a scientific victory”. I found it a little ironic considering the current replication crisis (I will elaborate further in my second response).

2. I think the aspect of this interview that will affect my own future or society’s future is his emphasis on “revision is a scientific victory”. There is currently a replication crisis in academia which means that many experiments are never replicated or checked. There is also a pressure in scientific research to return “surprising” or “significant” results which often leads to inaccuracy–and unchecked inaccuracy. Despite that quote being so famous, the current state of the scientific community seems to be at odds with that. I think that if the scientific community focuses on changing its base philosophy to something more akin to this quote, the future of research could be very different.