No, it's not sarcasm - There are a lot of subconscious or passive ways in which a subject being studied can alter the data that's being collected by a scientist. Like, similar the Hawthorne or Subject-expectancy effect, for example, is when a subject changes their behaviour because they know they're being observed. Because they know it's an experiment.
I think most of the people here aren't constantly factoring in or thinking about the nature of being in an experiment to the way they're acting, the choices they're making, the people they're talking to -- or sleeping with -- but I can't step back from that. I can't look at this beach and not wonder if it's a metaphor for D-day, some Brave New World SOMA shit, or what. But I need to figure it out. I can't just exist and let my "behaviour" be studied, and if that's what this is all about -- I'm messing with their data.