評論
打印
Gould went back to Morton's original data and concluded that the results were an example of the finagle factor at work. "I have reanalyzed Morton's data," Gould wrote last week in thejournal, Science, "and I find that they are a mixture of assumption and finagling, controlled, probably unconsciously, by his prejudiced way of ranking - his folks on top, slaves on the bottom."
古爾德重新研究了莫頓的原始數據，得出結論，莫頓的研究結果正是在科研中搞欺騙的一個例子。“我重新分析了莫頓的數據，”古爾德上星期在《科學》刊物上寫道，“發現它們是假設與欺騙的混合體。它們也許在不知不覺中受到他那懷有偏見的等級劃分方式的左右——他自己的種族優越，奴隸們最為低劣。”
Morton reached his conclusions, Gould found, by leaving out embarrassing data, using incorrect procedures, making simple arithmetical mistakes(always in his favor) and changing his criteria - again, always in favor of his argument.
古爾德發現，莫頓是通過剔除對己不利的數據，采用不正確的程序，造成簡單的計算錯誤（差錯的結果總是對其有利），以及更改標準——這種更改同樣總是有利于其觀點——等等做法，而獲得其結論的。
Left alone, that finding would not be particularly disturbing. Morton has been thoroughly discredited by now. Scientists do not believe that brain size reflects intelligence, and Morton'brand of raw racism is out of style.
孤立地看，這一發現不會令人特別不安。時至今日，莫頓早已聲名狼藉。科學家們不相信大腦的大小能反映智力的高低，莫頓那些赤裸裸的人種優劣論的貨色早已無人問津。
But Gould goes on to say that Morton' story is only "a noticeable example of a common problem in scientific work." Some of the leading figures in science are believed to have used the finagle factor.
但古爾德接著說，莫頓的情況僅僅是“科學研究中一個常見問題的顯著例子”。據信，科學界一些重要人物都有過欺詐行為。
One of them is Gregor Mendel, the Bohemian monk whose work is the foundation of modern genetics. The success of Mendel's work was based on finding a three-to -one radio in the dominant and recessive characteristics of hybrid plants he was breeding. He found that radio. But scientists recently have gone back to his data and have found that the results are literally too good to be true. Like Morton, Mendel gave himself the benefit of the doubt.
其中之一是波西米亞僧人喬治·孟德爾，他的學說為現代遺傳學奠定了基礎。孟德爾的研究成功的基礎在于，他在自己培育的雜交植物中發現了生物顯性和隱性之特征的三比一的比率關系。他發現了這個比率。但科學家們近來重新研究了他的數據，發現這些結果實在是太完美了，令人無法相信。像莫頓一樣，孟德爾在證據不足的情況下就肯定了自己的假設。
