I joined a relatively "open minded" lab because I worried my research wouldn't be accepted by the mainstream.
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I joined a relatively "open minded" lab because I worried my research wouldn't be accepted by the mainstream. Now I find myself frequently playing the skeptic in that lab, pointing out where there are claims that surpass evidence, conflicts of interest, and wishful thinking.
I think it's important to entertain alternative models of biology and intelligence. We definitely don't have it all figured out yet. And the weird promises of AI and the future of biotech are tantalizing. We see big claims and shocking articles and videos all the time!
But science is about evidence and explanation. It doesn't matter how cool these ideas are, what we could do with them, or how much we want them to be true. We have to test them. We should appreciate science that challenges and interrogates these ideas, rather than demoing or promoting them.
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I joined a relatively "open minded" lab because I worried my research wouldn't be accepted by the mainstream. Now I find myself frequently playing the skeptic in that lab, pointing out where there are claims that surpass evidence, conflicts of interest, and wishful thinking.
I think it's important to entertain alternative models of biology and intelligence. We definitely don't have it all figured out yet. And the weird promises of AI and the future of biotech are tantalizing. We see big claims and shocking articles and videos all the time!
But science is about evidence and explanation. It doesn't matter how cool these ideas are, what we could do with them, or how much we want them to be true. We have to test them. We should appreciate science that challenges and interrogates these ideas, rather than demoing or promoting them.
@ngaylinn Science is a social process that is robust to human fallibility. People can (and should!) be enthusiastic proponents of their ideas, especially if they are excited by them. At the end of the day, either the data supports the hypothesis, or it don't.
Of course, healthy skepticism, fervent belief in competing hypotheses, and heated debate are all also critical parts of that social process, too.
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@ngaylinn Science is a social process that is robust to human fallibility. People can (and should!) be enthusiastic proponents of their ideas, especially if they are excited by them. At the end of the day, either the data supports the hypothesis, or it don't.
Of course, healthy skepticism, fervent belief in competing hypotheses, and heated debate are all also critical parts of that social process, too.
@talisyn Well, yes. In this case, I was talking about lab mates sharing "wow, look at what they can do now!" kinds of findings without asking: "did they actually do what it looks like they're doing?"
If it was us proposing our wild ideas for others to critique, that would be one thing. But when we see exciting ideas from others, I think it's important that we critique them.
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R relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
