[Insight-users] The Logic of Scientific Research

[Luis Ibanez]

"...there is this desert prison, with an old prisoner
resigned to his life, and a young one just arrived. The
young prisoner talks constantly of escape, and after
a few months, he makes a break. He's gone a week and then
he is brought back by the guards. He is half dead, crazy
with hunger and thirst. He describes how awful it was to
the old prisoner. The endless stretches of sand, no oasis,
no sign of life anywhere. The old prisoner listens for
a while,then says, 'Yep, I know. I tried to escape myself
twenty years ago'. The young prisoner says, 'you did ?,
why didn't you tell me, all these months I was planning
my escape ? why didn't you let me know it was impossible?'.
And the old prisoner shrugs, and says, 'So who publishes
negative results ?'.




from

"A Case of Need"
by Michael Crichton,


Michael Crichton, graduated from Harvard Medical School
and served his internship before deciding to devote himself
to full-time writing. He is author of Jurassic Park, Disclosure,
Timeline, Airframe, Sphere, Terminal Man, Prey, The Andromeda
Strain, and the script for the TV series "ER".


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For less colloquial arguments on the importance of publishing
negative results, and replication of work, see

"The Logic of Scientific Research"
by Karl Popper