Mel Andrews

@bayesianboy.bsky.social

12783 Followers 5402 Following

I’m not like the other Bayesians. I’m different. Thinks about philosophy of science, AI ethics, machine learning, models, & metascience. postdoc @ Princeton.

Cover of Amnesty International Report – AUTOMATING SUSPICION
RISK PROFILING AS A SMOKESCREEN FOR STRUCTURAL
DISCRIMINATION AND INEQUALITY

false beans. beans. made of plastic.

A final angle on why its fraud might be that it misportrays what science is more broadly. If you think the reasons to do science are fundamentally human-that as scientists we are concerned with producing understanding for ourselves just as much as we're concerned about improving things in the world-then you could argue that for science to be meaningful we have to be the ones coming up with the ideas and shaping them as we go. From this perspective, automated science isn't inherently wrong, it's just missing the point. Al for science arguments often completely overlook the "people production" role of science. In the extreme, they envision Al finding solutions for lots of real world problems and intervening to control outcomes in the world without us understanding how any of it works. In reality, the personal side-including the search for personal fulfillment through science-is a big part of why smart people who could potentially make a lot more money in applied roles end up choosing research careers. And it's a big part of how we evaluate scientists. How many of your Ph.D. students have gone on to competitive research positions? What does the trajectory of topics you've worked on say about your research taste?

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