Science

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Must reads

Please research

  • Funding of research by corporate interests that "already know what the results should be".
  • Effect of less tenured positions. How did tenure come into existence? Where did the disinterested scientist come from, and where did they go?
  • Publish or perish encouraging scientists to publish dubious or minor results. Effect of publication rate and Impact Factors on scientist employment and grants. Here there's no-one explicitly trying to obtain influence, just a race for cash, is this beyond your scope?
  • Efforts in other countries and examples in our own system that try to isolate government scientists from improper political influence.
  • One serious problem that enables massive corruption (intellectual) is lack of information. Congress abolished the Office of Technology Assessment in the 1990s, leaving it without an organization that could provide timely, unbiased reports on issue legislators were facing. This is an issue much broader than just science; it covers national security, industry, etc. The lack of such an evaluative organization is seriously problematic. (Yes, the National Resarch Council and GAO do do some of this, but neither serve the same important function that OTA did.) Restoring such capabilities to government seems quite important in preventing corruption/hijacking of the political process.
    • This seems like an angle worth exploring separately -- to what extent have independent internal government evaluators become victims of any of the following? a) Abolition (e.g. OTA), b) Overwork, c) Capture. Does anyone have any sources on this? --Pgowder 21:06, 8 August 2007 (PDT)
  • The area of game theory and mechanism design seem to be highly relevant for setting up systems that resist corruption. Roger B. Myerson's work (who, along with Eric Maskin and Leonid Hurwicz, received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2007 for work in this area) seems particularly relevant.

Corruption in action

Climate Change:

PDF of Testimony by Dr. Drew T Shindellfor the hearing on political interference with the work of government climate change scientists, Congressional Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Jan. 30, 2007, U. S. House of Representatives.

PDF of Testimony of Rick Piltz, Director, Climate Science Watch Government Accountability Project before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Hearing on allegations of political interference with the work of government climate change scientists, January 30, 2007.

Bush Administration uses National Academy of Science panel report to bolster climate change deniers' criticism of the overwhelming anthropogenic climate change consensus of the international scientific community.

National Security:

Political influence used to stifle findings of experts at DOE to prevent their findings about the probable use of machined alumninium tubes from undermining the Bush Administration claims of their use in nuclear weapons manufacture.

Pentagon fakes National missile Defense tests to justify continuance of a non-functioning system and its deployment despite clear evidence that the system is functionally useless.

Prevailing bias:

Why Most Published Research Findings Are False There is increasing concern that most current published research findings are false. .. Simulations show that for most study designs and settings, it is more likely for a research claim to be false than true. Moreover, for many current scientific fields, claimed research findings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias. [Much research is only funded if it is likely to produce intended results.]

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