Searching for Subjectivity

Trying to uncover objective truths in our modern world is like trying to find compromise in congress- due to financing, basically impossible. When there is the chance for financial gain on the table, in either congress or science, methods for reaching the payment are never by the book exactly. Members of Congress will keep the cooperations who donated to their campaigns in mind when they decide whether to sign off on proposed bills. Why would a republican who is getting half a million from the NRA every two years agree to pass a bill regulating gun usage? He would not. Similar to how scientists keep the group financing their experiment in mind when deciding how to frame their question. This is the most essential part of science, what question is being asked, and the questions scientists are looking to answer that stunt their ability to generate 'productive' or 'disruptive' discoveries. This is true for two reasons. The first reason is in our current capitalist society, there will be no more 'universal truths' to uncover. Truth has become too subjective. There is not much left to discover that applies to every person in the same way. The second is that in our capitalist society, science is too motivated by money, and as we learned from congress when money is on the table, the truth tends to remain unserved. 

This is not meant to be an anticapitalist rant, of course, there are parts of science that were only made possible by competition bred through capitalism and components that do not have much to do with the economy. Science writer John Horgan was correct when he stated in his article about the end of science, "There will be no more insights into nature as revolutionary as the theory of evolution, the double helix, quantum mechanics, relativity, and the big bang," he claims they have already mapped out the most crucial truths of our world and that there is not much left to discover. The truths he mentioned here are not products of the engine of capitalism but instead of scientists' will to learn more, which is a beautiful aspect of human life. However, this beauty can only stretch so far, as there is only a limited amount of objective truth to discover. Science suffocates itself here. After finding everything it needs to know, there is no road map for what to see next. All there is a thirst for more objectivity and the mindset that universal truths exist. This mindset is not wrong; truth exists but has been discovered already. Now though, science needs to stop folding in on itself by looking for more truths and instead focus on applying what it has already learned in subjective ways to diverse groups of people. Ask, how can we use this knowledge to make the world better for everyone instead of how we can use this knowledge to generate revenue. 

Money incentivizes science. As discussed by Christie Aschwanden in her article "Science isn't Broken," the current statistical methods we use to prove claims are broken. Christie informs her readers that significant evidence has been uncovered discrediting the legitimacy of experiments that use p-values to account for sampling error. According to her, scientists were smudging p-values to have their papers published. This is only sometimes on purpose, but with the financial gain authors garner from publishing papers, there certainly is a moral gray area. This is the second reason science is struggling today; money has far too much to do with it now. As long as predatory publishing exists, which is where publications will take money to publish papers, no peer review necessary science cannot be trusted to produce objective truths or anything close to that. 

If money is a motivator, corners will be cut. If there is no money for motivation, there is little an unfunded scientist can discover, primarily due to how much more expensive science has gotten in the past few years. As the interactive "Hack Your Way to scientific Glory" simulation in the Aschwanden article showed, you get out of science what you put in. Namely, the data you look at and the question you ask matter to the results you find. This simulation proves that science cannot be subjective in our modern-day, dependently globalized, hyper-commercialized economic world, as its consequences impact each person differently. Redirect science to view how people are affected by things rather than what affects them, and productivity will pick up. 






























Works Cited

“Huge New Study Confirms Science Ending! (Sort Of)”, John Horgan, Cross-Check: A Free Journal, 2023.  https://www.johnhorgan.org/blog/posts/42122 

“Science is Getting Less Bang for Its Buck”, Patrick Collison, Michael Nielsen, The Atlantic, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/11/diminishing-returns-science/575665 

“Science Isn’t Broken”, Christie Aschwanden, FiveThirtyEight, 2015. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/science-isnt-broken/#part1

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