In doing a scientific experiment, when a scientist observes, and then measures the process, it is very important that he will not influence it in any way, i.e. that he remains totally objective and accepts the results that are found – not altering results to get the result that he thinks or hopes he might find.
I believe that how badly we need something (or a particular result – to be more precise) in any particular field determines how close our version of the truth will be to the objective reality. The best scientists are able to remain objective and not allow prejudice to influence results. But even in the very objective worlds of physics, chemistry, engineering, medicine etc. prejudice can influence results.
And furthermore, the truth is sometimes not the same as objective reality – rather it’s often what everyone knows and believes at a particular time in history. Once upon a time it was true that the earth was flat, it was also true that if a woman (who people suspected was a witch) didn’t drown when immersed in water she was a witch.
Altering results to fit a particular policy, or ingratiate a person in authority, or make money, or even boost one’s own ego, is a lot more common than the layman might think.
I have memories, for example, of being convinced by an influential body of scientists in the 1970’s and 1980’s that nuclear power was safe. What they neglected to say, of course, was that if everything works perfectly, and no-one makes a mistake (which, as we know, is an impossible scenario) then nuclear power is safe. Their claims were, of course, blown apart, (pun intended) by the tragedy of the Chernobyl meltdown in 1985 when it was proven that ordinary people’s fears were more reliable than the conclusions of the scientific establishment.
In a previous post I discussed how scientists who are deemed to be highly intelligent believe that putting their considerable energies and talents in developing more sophisticated weapons will make our world a safer place. And this truth has been blown apart (pun intended again) so many times in history that there is no need to give any examples.
(If you are interested further, Rupert Sheldrake, a scientist in Cambridge University, England, has written papers, books etc. about how results of experiments can be distorted to suit a desired outcome).