“Human nature intrudes otherwise. If we form our inferences while looking at all the data, we cherry-pick or misinterpret based on our ego, desperation, and biases, both conscious or unconscious. So in the initial stage, we only look at a fragment. We work to deepen our understanding first. This stage can take years before an analysis is approved by higher-ups, and the physicist is allowed to ‘unblind’ the data or ‘open the box,’ as they say in my field.”
