Sweeping Science

Making grand, universal claims about complex systems (like human behavior, climate, or ecosystems) based on oversimplified models or a single disciplinary lens. It's the over-extension of a scientific paradigm beyond its useful domain, ignoring confounding variables and the inherent complexity of the subject.

Example: "His sweeping science approach claimed all human mating choices could be reduced to a simple genetic algorithm for optimal offspring. It ignored culture, love, personal history, and the entire field of sociology. It was a biologist's hammer treating the human heart as a nail."

by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026

Hasty Science

Drawing firm, public scientific conclusions from preliminary data, unreplicated experiments, or small sample sizes, often driven by the pressure to publish or the desire for media attention. It's science conducted at the speed of a news cycle, sacrificing rigor for relevance, and often leading to embarrassing retractions and public distrust.

Example: "The headline 'Coffee Cures Cancer!' was classic hasty science, based on one in-vitro study with massive doses on isolated cells. The researchers held a press conference before other labs could even attempt replication, creating a wave of false hope and bad dietary takes."

by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026

Bending Science

The corrupt practice of distorting the scientific process—through experimental design, data analysis, or publication pressure—to produce a predetermined result that serves a commercial, political, or ideological agenda. This is more sinister than bad science; it's the intentional warping of the truth-seeking machinery. Think of tobacco companies funding research to "disprove" the link to cancer, or designing studies to fail.

Example: "The pharmaceutical giant was caught bending science. They designed their clinical trial to compare their new drug not against the best existing treatment, but against a sub-therapeutic dose, guaranteeing a 'superior' result for publication, while burying the internal studies that showed serious side effects."

by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026

Power Problem of Science

The critique that modern scientific institutions have, despite their ideals of objectivity, become entangled with political, economic, and social power structures. Science is used not just as a tool for understanding, but as an authority to legitimize policy, marginalize dissenting worldviews (labeling them "pseudoscience"), and enforce a specific, materialist ontology as the sole arbiter of reality. This problem highlights how the label "scientific" can be wielded as a cudgel to maintain hegemony, turning science from a method into a state-sanctioned religion where priests in lab coats define truth and morality, and heresy is called "misinformation." The purity of the scientific method becomes corrupted by its institutional role as the gatekeeper of official reality.

Example: "When the government dismissed traditional herbal knowledge as 'unscientific pseudoscience' to push patented pharmaceuticals from a donor's company, it wasn't defending truth—it was exhibiting the Power Problem of Science. The institution of science was being used as the enforcement arm of a corporate agenda, protecting market power, not pursuing knowledge."

by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026

Science Forging

The outright fabrication of scientific data, results, or entire studies—committing fraud to create a veneer of empirical support for a claim. This is the most direct and malicious form of counterfeiting in the knowledge economy, creating a peer-reviewed mirage where no research actually occurred.

Example: "The pharmaceutical company was caught science forging. They had invented patient data for a clinical trial, photoshopped lab results, and published a paper in a compromised journal. The forged 'science' was used to secure FDA approval for a drug that was later revealed to be no better than a placebo."

by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026

Political Problem of Science

The inherent corruption that occurs when the institution of science is conflated with the scientific method. This is the transformation of science from a process of open, fallible inquiry into a political entity—a state-sanctioned authority that gets to definitively regulate what is considered "objective" and, by extension, "moral." The problem arises when the label "scientific" is wielded not as a descriptor of methodology, but as a cudgel of power to silence dissent, marginalize non-hegemonic worldviews (by labeling them "pseudoscience"), and enforce a single, materialist ontology as the only valid reality. In this politicized state, defending science devolves into a fundamentalist posture of declaring everything else "non-science," creating an empty, negative identity more concerned with gatekeeping authority than with understanding the world. It's when the priesthood in lab coats cares more about protecting the temple's power than pursuing messy, unpredictable truth.

Example: "When the public health agency's messaging shifted from 'here is the evolving data on masks' to 'any questioning of our mandates is anti-science pseudoscience,' they showcased the Political Problem of Science. The method—tentative, evidence-based—was replaced by the institution's need for unquestioned authority, turning a public health tool into a political loyalty test."

by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026

Science Crafting

The strategic design of a research program, from hypothesis formation to methodology and interpretation, to produce a result that aligns with a desired outcome, while remaining within the technical bounds of acceptable practice. This includes p-hacking, selective outcome reporting, choosing unrepresentative models, or framing conclusions in a misleading way. It's using the tools of science not to discover, but to produce a predetermined product that wears the mask of objectivity.

Example: "The industry-funded lab crafted their science on the chemical's safety. They used a rodent strain resistant to its effects, tested only unrealistically low doses, and 'explored' dozens of health endpoints but only reported the two that showed no problem. The crafted study, published as 'rigorous science,' concluded the chemical was 'well-tolerated.'" Science Crafting

by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026