All biases can have pernicious effects, and we all have biases, and this is the primary reason scientific research has progressed to modalities that work to remove the degrading consequences of research "infected" with biases. In early science these "bias control" modalities had not been discovered yet, and there were cases where scientists were punished for discovering more accurate views of reality. Perhaps the case of Galileo is the most commonly cited example of this...from a wiki page titled "Galileo Affair":
"Responding to mounting controversy over theology, astronomy and philosophy, the Roman Inquisition tried Galileo in 1633, found him "vehemently suspect of heresy", and sentenced him to house arrest where he remained until his death in 1642."Of course we're better than that now, right? Well, perhaps not, another way of saying "bias" is belief system, and we all tend to cling to them as if our survival depended on it. And belief systems are more akin to religion than bias-controlled science, where curiosity is the overarching impulse that leads us where it may.
One of the foundation principles of bias controlled science is "the weight of the evidence", or replicability. This is because bias controls are not perfect, and while bias may leak into some studies it is less likely to do so in the majority of studies.
Perhaps the most pernicious of all biases is the "invented here" bias. In fact, it might be said the invented here bias is so widespread that it is responsible for the massive ecological destruction technology wreaks on the planet.
We humans have an almost blind faith belief that technology will save us from our biggest mistakes...that the new technology will solve all problems caused by the previous technology. And so we are very resistant to seeing the destructively compounding effects of newer and "better" technologies. And the result is the invented here bias is so endemic we generally do not account for it at all.
The Stanford epidemiologist John Ioannidis is probably the most cited epidemiologist in history, and is spearheading an effort to reduce invented here bias in medical research. One of his most cited papers is in fact titled "Why Most Published Research Findings Are False".
Ioannidis says this about himself on his Stanford bio page:
"Some of my most influential papers in terms of citations are those addressing issues of reproducibility, replication validity, biases in biomedical research and other fields, research synthesis methods, extensions of meta-analysis, genome-wide association studies and agnostic evaluation of associations, and validity of randomized trials and observational research."
I think we can say with some confidence as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic the invented here bias in medical research has reached an Icarus-like zenith.
Let me give a few examples of how invented here bias may have infected the topic of vaccines.
1) Natural immunity is discounted, but without it our 150,000 year old species would have vanished before it got started. The same can be said of any species of some duration.
2) And yet, vaccine technology began with Pasteur in about 1880, but widespread adoption didn't began until about 1940.
3) Meanwhile, we have begun to attribute our survival to vaccines, and it seems clear to me that vaccine technology has become more "belief system" than bias-controlled science.
4) And back on the topic of natural immunity, a robustly strong immune system is the sine qua non of all aspects of health, including disease resistance.
5) Finally, viral epidemics and pandemics burn themselves out eventually (refer to point 1), and yet we fail to notice this occurs in the general time frame that vaccines are developed and reach the market. Despite this we attribute the end of viral replicability exclusively to the technology.
And point five is a prime example of invented here bias.
In conclusion, a strong natural immune system is prerequisite to a good life. And strong natural immunity can last into old age. We've traded that for addictive toxic foods, and an inactive lifestyle.
And remind me again which are the most powerful industries on the planet? Big Food and Big Pharma, which profit greatly on our lack of knowledge of the true causes of robust health.
It doesn't have to be that way. Can I recommend a book?
