<story><title>Scandal at America&apos;s top science fair</title><url>https://www.karlstack.com/p/exclusive-scandal-at-americas-top</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>snickerbockers</author><text>&amp;gt;Everyone makes mistakes — Lord knows I did plenty of stupid, immoral things when I was 17 — and there is always the opportunity for growth and redemption.&lt;p&gt;when did the definition of &amp;#x27;mistake&amp;#x27; change to encompass actions done on purpose?  a mistake is when your data is invalid because you did the math wrong, not when all your data is simultaneously false and plagiarized.&lt;p&gt;i don&amp;#x27;t mean to disagree with the notion that his entire life shouldn&amp;#x27;t be ruined over one incident at a science fair when he&amp;#x27;s a teenager, but let&amp;#x27;s not make it sound like this is a careless blunder that could happen to anybody.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>physicles</author><text>Those stupid, immoral things that the author did at 17 were also done on purpose. The mistake is in the reasoning that led to the decision to do the action.&lt;p&gt;Pai&amp;#x27;s mistake was _deciding_ to commit research fraud, and then doing it.</text></comment>
<story><title>Scandal at America&apos;s top science fair</title><url>https://www.karlstack.com/p/exclusive-scandal-at-americas-top</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>snickerbockers</author><text>&amp;gt;Everyone makes mistakes — Lord knows I did plenty of stupid, immoral things when I was 17 — and there is always the opportunity for growth and redemption.&lt;p&gt;when did the definition of &amp;#x27;mistake&amp;#x27; change to encompass actions done on purpose?  a mistake is when your data is invalid because you did the math wrong, not when all your data is simultaneously false and plagiarized.&lt;p&gt;i don&amp;#x27;t mean to disagree with the notion that his entire life shouldn&amp;#x27;t be ruined over one incident at a science fair when he&amp;#x27;s a teenager, but let&amp;#x27;s not make it sound like this is a careless blunder that could happen to anybody.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>smogcutter</author><text>Most mistakes aren’t accidents, plenty of accidents aren’t mistakes.</text></comment>