Me:
Yes but...in the particular realm of science, directly lying about
your results is not kosher, fine, but there is a whole world of
minor deception, spin and so on which borders on the unethical if it
doesnīt cross over. Then there is the muscling in on other peopleīs
publications which happens a *lot* and all sorts of ways in which
peopleīs reputations are enhanced. And...people do tweak their
results a *lot* if they donīt lie about them, removing the odd
unhelpful datum, choosing one statistical test over another as it
yields "significant" results, improving images using photoshop
(standard practice in molecular biology but how far to go?). And
then there are different interpretations to data.
I have heard of a lot more cases of this than anyone being punished. What is the figure? One percent or more (thatīs a lot, I think the figure is higher) of scientific papers contain plagiarism.
So, lying may not be kosher in science or in boasts, but there are a number of cracks through which people can (and therefore will) wriggle - this was my point.
And even if the sanctions for saying you were at a battle when you were not, or for slaying a certain monster when you didnīt, are great, people will do it all over the shop unless that Humakti truth magic is being used an awful lot for such trivialities.
As for skalds being truthful - The Brazilian Declaration of Independence by Dom Pedro whatever-it-was by the banks of the River Ipiranga, immortalized in the national anthem? Itīs a stream where he stopped to take a dump. The Gettysburg Address?
Sam.
Powered by hypermail