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The problem of bogus papers in Academia is due to wrong incentives and is getting worse all the time. Just like the so-called "news" has become nothing more than a torrent of context-free and highly misleading soundbites, so too has much academic output become little more than a torrent of intentionally sensationalistic papers aimed at attracting enough attention to sway study groups and thereby secure RO1 grants. It seems impossible that we will solve this problem because everyone - including academics themselves - have brains evolved to do as little work as possible. People - all people - are suckers for sensationalism, even when it's dressed up as serious research. We are now in a crisis of humanity and it's unclear anyone even understands the problem, much less has any potentially viable solution.

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Allan Milne Lees
Allan Milne Lees

Written by Allan Milne Lees

Anyone who enjoys my articles here on Medium may be interested in my books Why Democracy Failed and The Praying Ape, both available from Amazon.

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