Daniel Lemire's blog
Peer review is not the gold standard in science
Peer review as we know it today was introduced very late, over a century after the scientific revolution. It happened after Einstein’s time… arguably the most productive era in science. Current scientists often equate a success with the publication in a selective peer-reviewed venue. But that was never the scientific paradigm. In fact, it is pre-scientific thinking. Back in Einstein’s time, many scientists believed in the ether. It would have been difficult to dismiss the ether as a concept. The prudent approach would have been to pay lip service to the ether. Similarly, most scientists believed in eugenics. They believed in forced sterilization for the greater good. Many of the racist laws in the US followed straight from progressive science. Opposing eugenics would have been difficult in the context of peer review. It would have been difficult to challenge eugenics openly as a scientists. Recently, people like Matt Ridley challenged the idea that the SARS-Cov2 virus originated from nature. Back when he published his book on the topic, it would have been difficult to pass peer review.
You may not remember, but early on, it would widely accepted that the lab origin of SARS-Cov2 was only for far-right conspiracy theorists. The Canadian State broadcaster (CBC) told us, in its ‘science’ section:
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Peer review is not the gold standard in science
Peer review as we know it today was introduced very late, over a century after the scientific revolution. It happened after Einstein’s time… arguably the most productive era in science. Current scientists often equate a success with the publication in a selective peer-reviewed venue. But that was never the scientific paradigm. In fact, it is pre-scientific thinking. Back in Einstein’s time, many scientists believed in the ether. It would have been difficult to dismiss the ether as a concept. The prudent approach would have been to pay lip service to the ether. Similarly, most scientists believed in eugenics. They believed in forced sterilization for the greater good. Many of the racist laws in the US followed straight from progressive science. Opposing eugenics would have been difficult in the context of peer review. It would have been difficult to challenge eugenics openly as a scientists. Recently, people like Matt Ridley challenged the idea that the SARS-Cov2 virus originated from nature. Back when he published his book on the topic, it would have been difficult to pass peer review.
You may not remember, but early on, it would widely accepted that the lab origin of SARS-Cov2 was only for far-right conspiracy theorists. The Canadian State broadcaster (CBC) told us, in its ‘science’ section:
One of the most persistent and widespread pieces of disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the conspiracy theory that the novel coronavirus that causes the disease was created in a lab — and was let loose either by accident or on purpose by some nefarious actor.Remember: ‘The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.’
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