Wealth determines which scientific claims can be verified as true

Evidence

No money, no proof—and that means no verification of statements and no truth. The games of scientific language become the games of the rich, in which whoever is wealthiest has the best chance of being right. An equation between wealth, efficiency, and truth is thus established. — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 336

Categorization

• SHARE: A punchy one-liner reversal—‘whoever is wealthiest has the best chance of being right’—worth sending to anyone in science funding.
• XREF: connects to: Money influences research topics but cannot directly buy truth claims — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 785; Each society has a regime of truth that determines what counts as true; Science’s trustworthiness rests on being intersubjective and collective — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice: How to Communicate…, 748 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Money influences research topics but cannot directly buy truth claims #qualifies (0.92) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 785
• Each society has a regime of truth that determines what counts as true #expands (0.85)
• Truth of a theory is independent of either its productivity or its non-application #contradicts (0.85)
• Science’s trustworthiness rests on being intersubjective and collective #complicates (0.80) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 748
• Automated production shifts wealth creation from labor time to scientific knowledge #expands (0.78) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 198