There's nothing wrong with criticizing science, but the reaction to The Economist article -- which itself was a bit too breathless for comfort -- is heading rapidly into tiny-green-football-linkbait territory.
The scientific funding and publication system has problems that deserve scrutiny, but science itself is far more rational than nearly any large, human-maintained system I can think of.
When we resort to hyperbole like "science has lost it's way", we give a group of vocal, clueless idiots more power to undermine the most consistently productive engine for progress that humanity has ever devised. So let's talk rationally about the problems, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
"Science has lost its way" is usually a statement I see trotted out by people in the media, who think that the quality of scientific journalism by the media, represents the quality of the actual science it fails at reporting on accurately.
"Scientific journalism has lost its way" would be more accurate were it not for the fact it clearly never had one.
The scientific funding and publication system has problems that deserve scrutiny, but science itself is far more rational than nearly any large, human-maintained system I can think of.
When we resort to hyperbole like "science has lost it's way", we give a group of vocal, clueless idiots more power to undermine the most consistently productive engine for progress that humanity has ever devised. So let's talk rationally about the problems, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.