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And really, Wakefield is just our modern example. All throughout history, human beings have attacked/ persecuted/ crucified the healers among us. I wish we had a term to capture this really sick thing we do; because then maybe, we could stop doing it. That might be a good place to start if we are going to heal the planet.

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Excellent article. But how to keep the powers-that-want-to-be-omnipotent from paying off, coercing, blackmailing, threatening, and otherwise getting mid-level patsies to do their bidding, squelching EARNEST research and discourse by up and coming students, developers, and researchers? Rules, regulations and laws may reduce this, but do not keep from happening.

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To, clealrly it's a matter of personal responsibility.

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Yes, that, too. But even so, from my experience with people many would consider it more "responsible," for example, to take a payoff that helps them or their family through a struggle than to turn it down to do "the right thing" for a broader segment of the population. Sadly, I think it would be just as difficult to get more people to take that wider view (in practice) as it would be to cut the puppet masters' strings.

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As LBJ's wisdom and quote told us, on his signing his War on Poverty/ "free stuff" bill! i.e. quote, "With My new bill, we'll have ni@@&$ voting Democrat for 200 years! I.E. a modern version of, "Cake and Circus's" sucker bait! How can a Godless person have "personal responsibility" in a, "If it feels good, do it" world?

Hello anyone have an answer?

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I don't see, from my experience, that being "Godless" or not has much to do with personal responsibility. As a non-religious person, I take more personal responsibility and act more ethically (although of course I am not perfect) than many religious (and even a few highly religious) people of my acquaintance. I don't do it due to fear of future damnation, but due to personal integrity and my own sense of right and wrong. Maybe a lot of people need that fear factor to do right by others, but I never have, and I know other agnostics, athiests, etc. who also try to do what's right because it's right, rather than just doing whatever feels good because they don't believe in an omniscient, omnipotent authority figure watching their every move and thought, ready to pass judgement.

However, when looking at it in terms of large numbers of people, I guess I have to concede your point and say that there would be many more unethical actors if not for organized religion! I think I would answer your question: "With personal integrity!" and then rephrase your question as "How can someone without 'personal integrity' have 'personal responsibility' in an 'if it feels good, do it' world?"

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The Bible is full of fake Godless, wolf in sheep’s clothing types, in fact those types crucified God Jesus, the creator of everything, for a purpose as mentioned in his Bible! Who hasn't meet good athirst & bad so-called Christians BUT you and my beliefs is irrelevant to Gods truth, who taught us about Heaven and Hell, independent of our thoughts and wishes! In my book "personal responsibility" would include understanding more than your personal feelings as it relates to God's creation of all the symbiotic life he created just for us, so as to know and love him, as he demonstrated his love for us by sacrificing Jesus's blood and life just for us, as documented by many witnesses! What good is "personal responsibility" if it only gets you a ticket to eternal Hell, [as mentioned in the bestselling book in history] God had a reason to create you, and he gave you an owner’s manual, you can dump all that and DIY! I.e. it's what Satan is hoping for! Good luck, I wish you God’s best! Steve

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B.S. is the worlds oldest game! Starting with the serpent in the Garden of Eden! My last favorite B.S. example is from the 5 Billion in B.S./ fruad fines, i.e. Big Pharma's war on life saving HCQ and ivermectin, that B.E. cost over a million lives and much suffering! BUT made billions for evil fraudulent, pharma! God help save us from Big Pharma!

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👍🏽👍👍🏿

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God's Bible [not man's religion] and USA's history best tell the story of what happens when a [once] Creator inspired and Godley people were left alone, with Liberty and Freedom! History also tells us, when a nations leaders start playing god, "for the "good" of the people." death and disharmony is their only recompense! The 5 Billion in fruad fines/ pharma "medicine" monster is now USA's god, delivering Godless suckers the *leading cause of death and disharmony! [Fact!] *see the Johns Hopkins [low-ball] iatrogenic study, and the well cited book, Death by Medicine! Documenting, pharma "medicine" kills 2,191 each and every day, AND harms many more, regardless of the many lives they do save. P.S. their war on safe & effective Ivermectin & HCQ, to force ineffective clot shots, cost untold lives & misery! Satan must be very proud of his boys!

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As a non-credentialed member of a research project, I can attest to the pollution of the original research objective by those within and without with other agenda or motives. Although the project was not a complete failure, it accomplished little in identifying things not known or needed to be discovered.

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Still reading the whole thing, but quick typo notice:

Retractions serve as a corrective mechanism in science, but n be weaponized to suppress dissenting voices.

"n" -> "can"

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One thing that is not explicitly stated in the EARNEST principles is that ALL available evidence needs to be considered when decisions are made. Although take-downs of opposing scientific views have become commonplace now, one of the main ways science has long been abused by those with agendas is to simply pretend that alternative evidence exists.

So, I'm wondering if the second "E" should be altered to something like the following:

"Evidence-based: Conclusions from a study should derive logically from and with consistency to the results of the study. Similarly, decisions, policies, and public communication should be based on all the available evidence, critically evaluated, and openly debated."

I'm extremely skeptical that the word "best" in the current wording won't be abused by those who claim to know what "best" means based on their agendas. More generally, any wording used needs to be pretty bulletproof to avoid being twisted by those who claim to follow these principles while actually doing the opposite.

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At a deeper level, the real challenge with science is that it costs money to do it, and so scientists will always be beholden to someone who holds the purse strings. So, even if everyone agrees on the same principles, they'll still always be corrupted (directly or subconsciously) by where the funding and paycheck come from.

So, the only way principles like these can really offset the influence of money is if they are implemented in some way which affects the bottom line. (And bottom line doesn't just apply to corporations - every organization of any kind that's not 100% volunteer has a bottom line).

Though I can think of a few ways that *might* be done (e.g. tax breaks, matching research funds, etc.), I don't currently see a clear way forward for this.

So, bottom line, the principles are the first step. But it's not enough for scientists - or even power-brokers - to agree on them. Without a second step that provides some concrete financial incentives (negative or positive) to adhere to these principles, the influence of money won't be mitigated; it will just end up being hidden behind misdirection or self-serving re-interpretation of the agreed on principles (whatever they are).

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I should think that in a [once] God fearing, "Rational" nation “Reparations” would be sought by our ABC protector agency's for the damage our 5 Billion in fruad fines, (i.e. Fraud's that cost millions of lives and billions of suffering!) from our all-powerful all-knowing Big Pharma’s! BUT I guess with all the woke Leftist's dumb-down "education" (the topic of so many book's out now) and fear of Ridicule, it's "rational" to, see no evil, hear no evil, and for the sake of neo "rationality" never, never speak of that evil, lest ye be cast out and censored as a miss information apostate!

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