boogieknite 2 days ago

any reason hanlons razor doesnt apply here? honest question, im just a regular 4 year degree off to work guy

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  • o11c 2 days ago

    "Adequately" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in Hanlon's Razor. A good corollary to keep in mind is "Never attribute to stupidity what is better explained by malice." I usually apply this to politics, but science publishing is 90% politics, so it still fits.

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    • asddubs 2 days ago

      Yeah, I have mixed feelings about hanlons razor. Giving people the benefit of the doubt is good, and some people don't do it enough, but there's also a lot of people that overextend the benefit of the doubt to the point that they're almost doing damage control for fraudsters

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  • the__alchemist 2 days ago

    There are perverse incentives in scientific publishing, and there are not many alternative explanations.

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  • Lammy 2 days ago

    So sick of Hanlon's Razor. It's just a gift to the actually-malicious. If the outcome is the same then intentions don't matter.

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    • dec0dedab0de 2 days ago

      I consider it a reminder to stop and think before getting swept up in outrage.

      Sure, bad actors will maintain plausible deniability, but I would rather let some people slide than get worked up over mistakes or misunderstandings.

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      • Lammy 2 days ago

        Letting the people slide is not the same thing as letting the action/outcome slide. I do think it's reasonable to let intent inform one's feelings toward the person, but if it's easy to accidentally do fraudulent science then the system should still be criticized and the systemic problem should still be addressed.

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    • marxisttemp 2 days ago

      IMO it’s only applicable to humans. Hierarchies attract malicious actors.

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    • JadeNB 2 days ago

      > So sick of Hanlon's Razor. It's just a gift to the actually-malicious. If the outcome is the same then intentions don't matter.

      I think that's only true for a single incident. If someone does injury to me, I'm just as injured whether they were malicious or incompetent, but mitigation strategies for future interactions are different.

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  • readthenotes1 2 days ago

    Here's how the razor applies: There is no real malice behind all the fraud in science publications. The authors aren't usually out to specifically harm others.

    However, in the long run it is stupid because of two and a half reasons:

    - it reduces people's trust in science because it is obvious we cannot trust the scientists which in the long run will reduce public funding for The grift

    - it causes misallocation of funds by people misled by the grift and this may lead you actual harm (e.g., what if you catch Alzheimer's but there is no cure because you lied about the causes 20 years ago?)

    1/2- there is a chance that you will get caught, and like the former president of Stanford, not be allowed to continue bilking the gullible. This only gets half a point because the repercussions are generally not immediate and definitely not devastating to those who do it skillfully.

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