The Scientific Process

It was nice to have the break between semesters to read things I wanted to read. This is an article entitled "The Truth Wears Off" from the New Yorker by Jonah Leher.   It was published a few weeks ago about a phenomenon occurring with scientific studies on drugs, psychology and even acupuncture, and how when later replicated the results were disturbingly diminished.  The studies were legitimate, peer reviewed and confirmed by other researchers. However, the effects were not nearly as impressive when reviewed after further studies.  Its an interesting look at how complex it is to perform studies; randomness and bias creep in when even rigorous standards are used.  I suppose what is disappointing to many of us who have a belief in the scientific process is that our current expectations are wrong.  The expectation was that our published studies are valid and that we have solved a pieces of the puzzle and can move on to the next piece. 

We must be reminded that it is a process.  We study something; we have a theory of why it behaves the way it does; we set up a test to prove or disprove.  Then, we have others evaluate the study as well as try to disprove with their own tests.  Our time horizon just needs to be expanded to include further testing to obtain larger data sets as well as to further ferret out our own hopes (i.e. bias) for a result.  Remember the adage that if you torture data long enough it will tell you anything.  We get in such a hurry in our world of immediate gratification that we expect the same thing from science.  It just is not so and we will have to wait and see.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

I purchased the iTunes Originals of Patti Smith recently and have been blown away.  I downloaded it to my iPod and listened to it several times during my drive from Portland to Oakland on New Years Day.  It has thirteen musical tracks with each preceded by a track of her describing the origin of the song or the cover of a song.  A number of them are her original pieces done over the past 35 years while there are also covers of Van Morrison, the Doors, Nirvana, and the Allman Brother’s Band.  I have known about Patti Smith for a long time but did not follow her until her recent autobiography “Just Kids” came out in 2010.  I now am beginning to understand why she is so important to rock and poetry. For example, her cover of Gloria was on her Horses album of 35 years ago as the track Gloria: In Excelsis Deo.  It starts with her own poem and then does its own ironic take on Van Morrison’s first big hit.  I remember the first time I heard this song in September 1966 after a football game while riding in my father’s car.  I loved the song and thought the lyrics were provocative, at least to a 13 year old.  Now, as I listen to Patti Smith’s version she captures the same male libido fantasy but since she is female and does so in an even more primal way, its even better understood.  This is rock and roll.