Most of fiat science is proving things we already knew (for example, that seals don’t enjoy hearing sonic booms over and over, or that Beagles don’t enjoy being eaten alive by sand flies at the behest of Dr Fauci).

The purpose of these “studies” isn’t to make meaningful scientific discoveries, but rather, to check bureaucratic boxes that inflate the importance of the bureaucracy while slowing the pace of real innovation.

The question of whether Seals like or dislike sonic booms is irrelevant. The real question is whether the benefits of mastering the final frontier is worth the price of sonic booms, and whether it is ethical to put innocent animals through greater suffering than is needed to prove obvious conclusions we already know to be true.