What is most important in science? Is it the destination, product, or answer we arrive at? Or, is it the method and means by which we arrive there? Some would say the former whereas, others would argue it’s the latter. Others may say both coalesced together in some strange voodoo-like or even abstract metaphysical “understanding” is the most important.
Say I sit down at my computer, fired up one of the many different computer modeling applications I use, and attempted to answer a geology question. After performing several model runs and a detailed sensitivity analysis I conclude there is ultimately a small set of finite, distinct answers. How would it make you feel if I told you afterward that the answer I gave you did not have the highest probability, yet I changed the model input parameters such that that answer came up more frequently? I forced the answer by forcing, obscuring, or even manipulating the raw data used for the methods that led to that answer.
What I did in the example above falls into the age-old category of scientific ethics. I wish to share with you a letter. By now this is old news in the scientific community; however, . . . → Read More: Science: The Destination or the Journey?
