Intuition by Allegra Goodman

Intuition by Allegra Goodman: The False Promise of Science in the Marketplace

One of the most challenging questions that arise in Allegra Goodman's book Intuition is what makes a 'good' scientist. Rather than fully resolve the question, Goodman paints a picture of two individuals in the field of science who are imperfect, both of whom embody absolutes. There is Cliff, a scientist who claims to have created a mysterious cure for cancer that melts away tumors, using more intuition than technical data. On the other hand, the fact-finding Robin insists upon a rigorous demonstration of scientific truth, and believes Cliff is a fraud, after she reviews his scanty lab notes. Goodman implies that Cliff does believe that he has found a cure, but it remains an open question as to whether his determination to prove his results to be 'correct' blinded him as to the shakiness of the empirical data behind his results.

On one hand, it is hard not to admire Cliff. Everyone wants to find a cure for cancer, and the idea that intuitive leaps in logic can reveal things that are blind to otherwise logical people is appealing. Cliff's approach seems to stand outside of the ideals of big pharmaceutical corporations that labor only for profit. Corporate entities often exaggerate the severity of diseases to market their products (such as toenail fungus or 'restless leg syndrome'). However, there are many sobering reasons to view his contentions with caution. Too many people have been lured into having false hope and have actually been harmed by 'alternative' medical treatments that do not adhere to scientific protocols.

Even supposedly safe medications have been revealed to have serious side effects, such as antidepressants and birth control pills. These side effects were not publicized when they were introduced into the marketplace and consumers and ordinary doctors often have difficulty in truly evaluating new medication's trade-offs in terms of treatment. Many researchers are in the pay of the drug companies creating new medication, and their objectivity is suspect. Although pharmaceutical corporations and large research laboratories might be the ones to blame in advertising drugs, treatments, or research findings as cure-alls people can also become overly eager to believe these claims. Thus, to bring Cliff's supposed cure into a world where people are desperate for hope, when it is not adequately backed with science, seems dangerous.

There is also the question of obtaining funding for research, an obsession amongst all of Goodman's scientists. Scientists must prove that their research is bearing fruit, and it is very tempting to exaggerate the positive effects initially, in the hopes of gaining funding that will pay off in the long run. Goodman suggests that science has been corrupted by both a hunger for money and a hunger for publicity that has tainted the real reasons people entered science in the first place. A 'good' or pure scientist does not really exist any more, when politics and the need to make a profit, more than evidence, dictates the truth, instead of hard data and the desire of the scientist to heal. Both Cliff and Robin are partially 'good' scientists, but the scientists at Philpott Institute who applaud Cliff's results and ask questions only later are not 'good ' because they are not motivated by caring, like Cliff, or the intellectual quest to know more about human health, like Robin.