You Want to See My Data? I Thought We Were Friends
I don't know if the comic properly represents the book, but all of the suggestions are somewhere between ridiculous and useless.First, about identifying bad research: The "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" is already practiced. It's not that "we've overturned quantum theory" articles that are causing problem - those are quickly and effectively shot down. And it is rare that the "perfectly aligns with a political interest" can be applied. The only actionable one is "see what others think about it", and it's no panacea either.Bad and fraudulent science like the recently retracted Surgisphere covid paper is abundant. I was trying to track down the origin of the "reduce salt intake" and "limit egg consumption to no more than 2 per day / 2 per week" recommendation in the past, assuming there was hard science behind them. There isn't; and indeed they're slowly being reversed everywhere - but they were prevalent for half a century, with a lot of other research taking them as axioms.The remdesivir trials have been p-hacked to death - anyone who took an interest was seeing it happen in real time - yet, the scientific community turns a blind eye.The ketogenic diet is vilified in every mainstream media and most nutritional "science" publications; the headlines are rarely inline with the the actual results, but that's what people remember (Not that nutrition science is really science)And the other recommendations about fixing it are comparable to "lets solve evils of the US 2-party system! All we have to do is make those two parties vote to take away their power". Academia and science publishing are where they are now because it benefits essentially all the incumbents (at the expense of the rest of society).The problem description (at least in the comic) is good. Any suggested action ... not so much.