How Science Became Unscientific

Further Reading:
Robert Maxwell

Replication Crisis

1,500 scientists lift the lid on reproducibility

Ganzfeld Experiment Parapsychology and Psychic phenomena

Do we need a new theory of evolution?

Does evolutionary theory need a rethink?

Falsifiability: a deductive standard of evaluation of scientific theories and hypotheses, introduced by the philosopher of science Karl Popper in his book The Logic of Scientific Discovery

Forrest M. Mims III Amateur Science--Strong Tradition, Bright Future

Shubhagata Bhaumik Discrepancies in the Measurement of Hubble Constant

Abraham "Avi" Loeb Theoretical Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology

[BlackSun]

"The great promise of Science is that of knowledge one is able to uncover through one's direct engagement with nature, rather than knowledge which is bestowed from on high by authority figures and institutions." Finally, something that cuts right to the point.

[trentp]

I was in my final course of my biochemistry degree (physical chemistry) about 5 years ago, with a 3.7GPA, and even then, I had sensed something SERIOUSLY wrong with the corrupt institution that Science has become... I hated the fact that SO many absurdly pointless research projects were being funded, but things like herb research was shunned and discouraged. They'd rather have me studying monkeys on meth than something that actually could be useful to the masses. Also, the fact that the pharmaceutical corporations have turned into such monstrosities, as we've witnessed recently, left me with a very bad taste in my mouth.
I ended up doing nothing, and going nowhere with all of that knowledge due to this negative experience.
That being said, I approve the message you delivered in your video.

[TheGreenKnight]

The creepiest thing I've seen people say in recent years is "I believe in science!" the way a Christian might say "I believe in Christ!". I've seen people talk like this in the comment section of things like videos about landing rovers on Mars. I've seen people put signs on their lawn declaring that the people in that household "believe in science". It's a shout of religious fervor.

[prodbyryshy]

as a phd student i see everyday people who believe so deeply in unproven theories and are scared and completely unable to accept that biology is very complicated and our initial impressions on how systems should operate are generally overly simplistic (excuse me for the terrible english im sick and not in a great mood)

that being said, science is REALLY hard to do right especially in biology where there are near infinite number of covariates and the aforementioned complexity of these systems is seemingly limitless. We should focus on low hanging fruit when possible and admit when we cannot fully explain certain phenomenon due to experimental biases or factors that are impossible to account for. We should also put less stress on publishing positive results, which are often misleading due to the experimental biases i mentioned. I can say in my experience, i was never formally trained on how to perform data analysis, we sort of figure it out as we go along and much of the data is flawed.

[myakay]

As a psych grad, I felt that the much of the field of psychology had been hikacked by the advertising/marketing field. The only way to actually make money straight out of the field was through social marketing and ads which in essence to me meant taking advantage of the knowledge to manipulate peoples views. Understanding the psyche, to some degree, is sacred knowledge and should be regarded as such.

[anthony]

Seriously look forward to your videos more than anyone else. You, Scarlet Eye, and Agrippa’s Diary are my big three rn

[Oswlek]

Regarding dark matter, there actually have been numerous attempts to remodel gravity in response to the observations you mention, and some are still ongoing. The problem is that they fail to adequately account for the observations that led to general relativity in the first place. Moreover, there have also been subsequent observations that strongly indicate dark matter is a thing and not an underlying problem with the model.

The observation in this latter group that I find most compelling is that we find galaxies where there is no disconnect between observable matter and gravitational force. If "dark matter" were really just a quirk in the math, then it should be found everywhere in equal parts, but this is not the case.

[yibaibashimu]

Extremely well thought through arguments. You seen to put into clear language some vague, uncomfortable and largely abstract impressions darkening the corners of my mind whenever I have lately considered "science" as a process, as a philosophy and/or as an institution.
Thanks for the hard work on this video! This helped me clarify those hazy intuitions about the direction science seems to be heading.

Also, thanks for calling out Mrs. Astro (or whatever get handle is) for that crackpot video which I unfortunately watched and was so taken aback by the hypocrisy therein that I couldn't even think of an appropriate comment to leave voicing my objections to her propaganda.
Well done in general!
You certainly earned my thumbs up and sub!

[notloki]

great stuff. i'm 45 minutes in, so far everything checks out.

thank you for being aware of mindset of the century you actually live in, rather than regurgitating paradigms from the late renaissance. people who live in the present are so rare.

[Tokmurok]

I was just thinking this. Science has done this several times throughout history. Becoming arrogant in thinking they know everything and worshiping unproven theories as dogma.

[dr.jacksonbright]

As a Christian with a very classically scientific mindset, I find the absolute faith in science to be hysterical. While Christ does demand faith, science is defined by NOT requiring faith. Scientifically, you should be able to reach the truth yourself with observation, and the truth should therefore be self-evident. So to hear figureheads of the scientific community fail to provide evidence in favor of saying "trust me" is inherently anti-scientific.

[MichaelPohoreski]

A great irony is that *Isaac Newton wrote MORE on Alchemy* then Science yet his Alchemical papers remain largely unknown and inaccessible.

[SliversRebuilt]

Man, I would love so much to just sit down and talk to you sometime. I've almost never encountered anyone who feels so close to the views I've gradually come to over the last 10-15 years, and yet I just can't understand how you have the energy to do such projects as this...I still fear I might die with my works unwritten. I fear even more that I will have written them *too late* for it to matter. The solitude is just...crushing

Thank you for all of your magnificent effort and the great work it's resulted in.

[alfacarp]

So glad to witness the growth and development of this channel. This video feels like a special point in that growth. I LOVE FORMSCAPES

[UpCardo]

Thank you for making this video and pretty much nailing the state of science perfectly, it’s philosophical problems, mainly metaphysical and ontological, and the problem of induction. A lot of people are simply too scared to admit it and defend it tooth and nail as if it was a religion. Taking the word of the priesthood with a white lab coat as divine command, not allowing anyone under them to criticize them. Seriously great video.

[nothinginteresting]

Actually, my friend got a recommendation for this video. Since he didn't log in while watching, he asked me to like this video. Subbed and liked.

[Borme]

This was phenomenal. It said a lot of things that I remember being discussed at length in my philosophy of science classes in undergrad, but that seemed unknown to anyone actually doing scientific research. Excellent work.

[leifbeyond]

I have been using the phrase Priesthood of Academdia for the past few years to describe my experience and observations. Thank you for putting together all the pieces that show this is true.
I facilitate holotropic style breathwork and when you actually transcend your consciousness you cannot help but put together the pieces of the true nature of our reality.

[fraktaalimuoto]

As an astrophysicist I agree about 80% of the points raised. My biggest issues: this video a bit insensitive of various social and practical realities which us professional scientists have to deal with to do science as all. Also Avi Loeb is an asshole who unethically uses his established academic position in toxic ways. If he merely had some strange Idea, I would not mind. It is the other BS that gets me.

[kalebb]

I recently took chemistry, and the final assignment for this class was on pseudoscience. I noted that it was odd that there seemed to be no solid definition of it wherever I looked, only Karl Popper's issue on demarcation, 'falsifiability' (which we see here is hard to test due to the institutions valuing quantity over quality). Looking further, I noted that pseudoscience was more a philosophical and socio-political issue than a 'scientific' one, because, truly, everything is connected. I am aware that I probably should have discussed this with my professor beforehand, but despite technically answering the questions, I still got points off! It turned out she (or, more likely the curriculum) wanted my topic (AQAL) to be analyzed from a 'scientific' perspective, and any diverging ideas were unacceptable. Perhaps I've found myself in an echo-chamber in only interacting with this part of youtube (and the internet) as of late, but there is something deeply strange and corrupted about this...