Jeffrey Epstein’s Harvard connections show how money can distort research

Re:Jeffrey Epstein’s Harvard connections show how money can ... by joe_the_user on Monday August 24, 2020 @08:42PM (#24267102)

People's response to all this is so strange.

Sure, this article and "people's response" are indeed a reaction to terrible people driving science without any, uh, mediation.

The development of science from the situation of renaissance proto-scientists requiring noble patrons to NSF grants being evaluated based on ostensibly objective criteria was a progressive development.

The rise of direct grants by the very wealthy - for whatever they believe science should be - is a regressive development. It's a development that likely won't destroy science but one which has the potential distort it by moving results in the directions these very wealthy patrons desire.

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Re:Jeffrey Epstein’s Harvard connections show how money can ... by s1artibartfast on Monday August 24, 2020 @11:25PM (#24267884)

One could argue that this effect is negligible compared to the other influences at hand. The most significant of which is the profit motive. If you worry about a few rick patrons directing science, imagine what the r&d budget of every corporation on earth is doing.

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Re:Jeffrey Epstein’s Harvard connections show how money can ... by joe_the_user on Tuesday August 25, 2020 @03:25PM (#24275029)

One could argue that this effect is negligible compared to the other influences at hand

And "one" would be kind of engaging in "what-about-ism".

You certainly have some corporations indeed attempting to twist results in areas like climate science or tobacco smoke. The main limit here is that companies spend based on semi-objective cost benefits so most companies want to look better hire public relations agencies rather than paying for science but see notable except above.

Sure, I don't which different kinds of science distortion worst but it's certainly remarkable the different arguments which phenomena like Epstein's efforts aren't really a problem.

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Re:Jeffrey Epstein’s Harvard connections show how money can ... by s1artibartfast on Tuesday August 25, 2020 @08:53PM (#24277944)

There is what-about-ism and there is contextualization.

I think the philanthropic distortion of science is such a small negative effect it is not worth considering at all.

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Re:Jeffrey Epstein’s Harvard connections show how money can ... by etangent on Monday August 24, 2020 @10:50PM (#24267730)

Is there any reason to believe the spontaneous consensus that arises among the kind of people involved in government institutions can't also be biased, in an unsavory way, towards certain goals that benefit them as a class?

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