lördag 10 januari 2015

Stricter review cannot fight pseudoscience

The recent discussions about even stricter "peer review" as a purported "solution" to nonsensical publications is an example of an attempt to solve a problem with more of the same stuff that causes it. Status thinking, including all kinds of "do it because it is not forbidden", is inherently incapable of generating scientific progress. Even stricter review routines would only shift "peer review"'s paralysis from near-total to 100% total, avoiding mistakes by getting nothing done. The only positive thing that may lead to is showing the uselessness of all formal review systems, though there is a risk that "peer review" may keep falsely claiming credit for the continuing purely practical technological progress despite total theoretical-scientific stagnation. One-way sending of a paper for review cannot distinguish statusian bullshitting from scientific thinking. This distinction requires dialogue to detect, accepting only identity-neutral facts reasoning while discarding all "rationalization" of irrational claims.

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