Twitter mogul Musk argues for critical evaluation in science

What is science? You wouldn’t immediately expect Elon Musk to be on the front lines with this question. However, the American businessman, who has been working for a few years now, is going to turn around It sparked a heated debate On the nature and standards of “real” science.

The focus is on this social or philosophical question: Is only published research considered scientific, or is this too narrow a criterion?

The reason was one A call from Tesla mogul Musk At the end of next May, X will visit his new company xAI, which seeks advanced applications of artificial intelligence to “understand the universe.” This requires “the utmost rigor in fact-finding, without regard to popular approval or political correctness,” according to Musk — who has long opposed “woke” or “left-wing” viewpoints.

On his own platform, that call sparked sharp criticism from artificial intelligence expert Yann Lacon, chief scientist at Musk’s rival company, Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. LeCun He denounced hitting Musk on the chest About strict fact-checking, because the guy is “spreading crazy conspiracy theories on his own platform.”

Conspiracy theories

That’s right, Musk tweeted Including about “Pizzagate” (a conspiracy theory about the Clintons and pedophilia), described philanthropist George Soros (a target of anti-Semitism) as a danger to “civilization” and left the notorious – and convicted – conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Return to the platform.

Musk responded with sarcasm to how much LeCun has self-published over the past five years. “Over eighty articles,” LeCun, also affiliated with NYU, responded via reference mail. You?” with the addition: “…if you did the research and did not publish it, It’s not science“.

The latter (“the stupidest thing anyone has ever said,” according to Musk) led to a torrent of critical backlash. LeCun will rely on an outdated image of science, with popular journals as gatekeepers. But endless research in a selected peer-reviewed journal can also be relevant. Moreover, since the works of Latour, Foucault, and many other philosophers, we know that science is also a business in which knowledge is “produced,” and it is often a coincidence who gets what credit.

Lacon explained, defensively, that he didn’t mean it strictly. He wrote that science advances through “the collision of ideas, verification, analysis, reproduction and innovation.” This is only possible if the research is published “in some form” and thus made accessible to all.

He received support for this: Without critical evaluation there is no science. Objectivity does not come from above, but rather arises withinA collective effort for the knowledge societysaid philosopher of science Janet Stemwedel nature. However, Musk, who mainly expresses strong opinions, contributes little to the effort.

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