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GNR for Saturday July 22, 2023: Democracy and Science [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-07-22

I have been learning how to be a scientist since I was 17. That was when, as a freshman, I first was given a project in a research lab. Now, more than half a century later, I am starting to get the hang of it.

Doing science is terrifying. You start with some information about a phenomenon and then try to construct a hypothesis that best explains the phenomenon. The problem is the information is always fragmentary and often some of it is incorrect. But then you have to put out your hypothesis so anyone else can shoot holes in it. This always happens.

Trust me, it hurts when someone points out the flaws in your brilliant ideas. A year after I got my PhD I received a paper to review that identified an obvious oversight in my analysis of the genes I had studied. I was seriously pissed but I recommended the paper be published. It wasn’t their fault I was an idiot. I still have no idea how I could have missed that after working with the system for years.

This process only works in a democratic society. If a powerful person can suppress criticism (and they always try) then we get stuck with the original flawed hypothesis. Galileo’s celestial observations were squashed by the Vatican. Stalin made Lysenko’s bogus theory of heredity state doctrine in the Soviet Union, setting back Russian biological science by decades. We still have no idea what the Chinese know about the origins of COVID-19 because the truth would probably embarrass some high ranking government officials.

It also requires honesty. If the original person can just make shit up and gaslight critics then there is no way to figure out who is correct. The tobacco industry figured this out and their model has been adopted by the fossil fuel industry. Western science has enforced some level of honesty through peer review and drastic sanctions for fraud. It doesn’t always work but it is good enough for us to keep making progress.

I want to make clear that all individual scientists aren’t paragons of virtue. I know many who are liars, frauds, bullies, and all round assholes. The reason science works is the culture usually corrects the garbage that they insert into the literature. I read an article the other day about the vicious battle between Robert Oppenheimer and john Wheeler over the existence of black holes and who deserved credit for describing them. That argument doesn’t matter now- probably most physics students don’t have a clue and couldn’t care less.

This was a long introduction to this story:

Taking Down a President

Theo Baker published a series of articles in the independent Stanford student newspaper about questionable data in the publications of Marc Tessier-Lavigne, the President of Stanford. Tessier-Lavigne defended the work. That led to an investigation by a group of experts and as a result Tessier-Lavigne has agreed to resign at the end of August.

The photos shown in the video that are supposed to be two different experiments are obviously the same ones. There is no way this could have happened by accident- it is deliberate fraud. Tessier-Lavigne probably didn’t know about it, but he cultivated a culture in his lab in which this happened. He put his name on the papers and tried to stonewall when questions were raised so he deserves responsibility.

There had already been some allegations of data manipulation (some apparently discovered by Elisabeth Bik) in Tessier-Lavigne’s papers, but it hadn’t slowed his career. It doesn’t pay for other scientists to take on someone this powerful. It took a freshman working on the student newspaper to bring him down. That such a thing can happen is Very Good News.

(It’s clear why the current iteration of the Republican Party hates science and scientists.)

The Dance Card for 2024 is Filling Up

Since it’s the weekend let’s take a deep breath and try to summarize the finding out currently scheduled to drop. This will be likely out of date by noon on Monday.

Lawsuits targeting tfg (with prosecutor and trial date if set):

New York State fraud civil case (Letitia James): Oct. 2, 2023

Second E. Jean Carroll civil case: Jan. 15, 2024

Stormy Daniels payoff (Alvin Bragg): March 25, 2024

Mar-a-lago documents (Jack Smith): May 20, 2024

Coup and Insurrection (Jack Smith): Target letter sent so DC grand jury is preparing to indict

Georgia election interference (Fani Willis): Grand jury recently impaneled to issue indictments

He is going to be a busy little boy next year. A defendant in a criminal trial has to attend the entire trial. Looking at that schedule I can justify Judge Cannon’s decision not to start the documents trial in December. It also probably means the other two criminal cases (that we know of) will be next summer and fall. They are all going to be circuses so two months between start dates is reasonable.

Willis delayed her indictments because some of the Georgia fake electors weren’t told by their tfg-paid lawyer that they could cut a plea deal for squealing on the higher ups. Several have reportedly taken that option.

Attorney General Dana Nessel just indicted all 16 Michigan fake electors. Some are already screaming they didn’t understand what they were doing. They should also consider flipping against the people who talked them into it.

J-L Cauvin’s Latest

Mockery is the best medicine for would-be tyrants.

This is a short diary so I will rely on the commenters to fill it out. I have been distracted dealing with a contractor putting on a sunroom addition. Right now there is an 8’ wide hole in the family room wall where it will connect. I am trying to make sure a crew shows up Monday to deal with this- nobody came Friday. The temperature hasn’t been too bad the last few days but next week will get into the 90s.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/22/2182637/-GNR-for-Saturday-July-22-2023-Democracy-and-Science

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