Scientific Method Man

Gordon Rugg has devised a simple method of solving scientific problems currently thought to be intractable, such as Alzheimers. Here’s how it works:

The verifier method boils down to seven steps: 1) amass knowledge of a discipline through interviews and reading; 2) determine whether critical expertise has yet to be applied in the field; 3) look for bias and mistakenly held assumptions in the research; 4) analyze jargon to uncover differing definitions of key terms; 5) check for classic mistakes using human-error tools; 6) follow the errors as they ripple through underlying assumptions; 7) suggest new avenues for research that emerge from steps one through six.

On its face it seems reasonable, so much so that it’s more or less exactly what many of us do already in the search for unique intellectual property.