Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg Scientific Progress and the Replication Crisis (with Geoff Anders)
Dec 9, 2020
Geoff Anders, founder of Leverage Research and co-founder of Paradigm, explores the paradox of scientific progress with Spencer Greenberg. They discuss whether the explosion of publications signals actual advancements or just noise. Anders dives into the replication crisis in social sciences, unveiling how many studies can't be reproduced. He also critiques personality tests and shares insights on enhancing user experiences, emphasizing the importance of introspection in improving psychological research methodologies.
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Measuring Scientific Progress
- Assessing scientific progress is difficult, with conflicting views on breakthroughs and overall advancement.
- Factors like publication numbers and subjective assessments of discoveries complicate evaluation.
The Nobel Prize Laureate Test
- The Collison article in The Atlantic used Nobel Prize-winning discoveries to gauge scientific progress in physics.
- Scientists' subjective assessments suggested a decline in scientific advancement per scientist.
Low-Hanging Fruit Metaphor
- The "low-hanging fruit" metaphor is misleading, as scientific discovery changes the research landscape.
- Discoverability is empirical, not a conceptual truth that discoveries will run out.
