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Meta-Research Debunks Medical Study Findings
jenningsthecat writes "From The Atlantic comes the story of John Ioannidis and his team of meta-researchers, who have studied the overall state of medical research and found it dangerously and widely lacking in trustworthiness. Even after filtering out the journalistic frippery and hyperbole, the story is pretty disturbing. Some points made in the article: even the most respected, widely accepted, peer-reviewed medical studies are all-too-often deeply flawed or outright wrong; when an error is brought to light and the conclusions publicly refuted, the erroneous conclusions often persist and are cited as valid for years, or even decades; scientists and researchers themselves regard peer review as providing 'only a minimal assurance of quality'; and these shortcomings apply to medical research across the board, not just to blatantly self-serving pharmaceutical industry studies. The article concludes by saying, 'Science is a noble endeavor, but it's also a low-yield endeavor ... I'm not sure that more than a very small percentage of medical research is ever likely to lead to major improvements in clinical outcomes and quality of life.' I've always been somewhat suspicious of research findings, but before this article I had no idea just how prevalent untrustworthy results were."
I click on that link, and .... I got just an article!!! I was sure my browser was broken when 30 ads and noise from all directions didn't load. Oh the beautiful text! Ok one banner ad but nice...
Hmmm...
Studies show that I should be modded up.
Religion has been betraying our trust for thousands of years. For recent examples, look at all the catholic priests fucking little boys, faith healers 'curing' diseases and televangelists taking people's money (well a lot more of it that churches normally do in any event).