最终的教训是,科学不是特别的 - 至少已经不再了。也许爱因斯坦与尼尔斯·鲍尔(Niels Bohr)交谈时,每个领域只有十几名重要的工人。但是现在美国有300万研究人员。这不再是一个呼唤,而是职业。科学与其他任何人一样腐败。它的从业者不是圣徒,是人类,他们做人类所做的事情 - 撒谎,作弊,彼此偷窃,苏隐,隐藏数据,虚假数据,夸大了他们自己的重要性,并不公平地贬低了反对的观点。那是人性。它不会改变
(The ultimate lesson is that science isn't special – at least not anymore. Maybe back when Einstein talked to Niels Bohr, and there were only a few dozen important workers in every field. But there are now three million researchers in America. It's no longer a calling, it's a career. Science is as corruptible a human activity as any other. Its practitioners aren't saints, they're human beings, and they do what human beings do – lie, cheat, steal from one another, sue, hide data, fake data, overstate their own importance and denigrate opposing views unfairly. That's human nature. It isn't going to change)
在迈克尔·克里顿(Michael Crichton)的《下一步》中提出的观点中,科学已经从高尚的追求发展到普通职业,现在涉及数百万的研究人员。这种转变表明,曾经与科学探究相关的完整性已被其他专业中的相同人类缺陷所损害。随着该领域的扩大,科学家之间的腐败和不道德行为也有可能。
克里顿(Crichton)认为,像所有人类一样,科学家也存在相同的道德缺点。结果,不诚实的行为,对数据的操纵和个人冲突都会像其他任何职业一样出现。这种观点挑战了以下观点:科学本质上是善良的,强调它的核心是人类的努力,因此对所有恶习的生活都开放。