Scientific publishing has been gamed to advance scientists’ careers, not knowledge. While science communication has turned into a means of public indoctrination. In this essay, Àlex Gómez-Marín argues that real experts don’t know “the truth,” and that we should become pilgrims towards the unknown rather than the squatters of the broken records of ideological mantras.

Science is in trouble. The problem comes from within and from without. Not only has scientific publishing been gamed to advance one’s career rather than everyone’s knowledge, but scientific communication has turned into a mechanism of public indoctrination. We don’t seem to live in a world where people can “trust the experts” anymore. Worrisomely, the mantra “science says” either means almost everything or virtually nothing to most of us today. For instance, already at year 4 AC (After COVID), some citizens would never accept unconstitutional lockdowns or experimental inoculations again, while others still drive alone in their cars with the windows up and their masks on. Something is killing science softly. What is it, how is it happening, and why?

Despite relentless technological innovation, scientific progress is stalling compared to the prodigious revolutions in understanding that our ancestors provided us a century ago. We seem to have fallen into the habit of living off such scientific props, burning such a legacy and credibility quickly and unwisely. We need to transfer new funds to the science ledger, or else our scientific credentials will soon become hardly more than a pseudo-religious credo.

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Science publishing has become a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme at the expense of taxpayers and scientists themselves.

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