Do read djf Re Is Science Hitting a Wall - it's not just about science

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Joe Touch <touch () strayalpha com>
> Date: April 8, 2018 at 8:20:41 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Cc: ip <ip () listbox com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Re Is Science Hitting a Wall - it's not just about science
>
> Hi, Dave,
>
> A few observations:
>
> - saving more lives means fewer opportunities to save lives, so all such metrics result in decreasing returns for two 
> reasons: fewer big-impact diseases to cure and un-cured diseases affect a smaller population. A good economist would 
> have taken that into account.
>
> - science has always occurred as punctuated advancement rather than as a continuous stream, so it’s easy to find 
> sciences that are in their stable phases
>
> - as others have noticed, however, the metrics used do not measure scientific advancement, but rather industrial 
> development
>
> Many of our biggest advancements took many years to yield fruit - decades each for quantum mechanics, electricity, 
> and even the Internet. Expecting short-term gains ensures incremental and largely inconsequential advancement.
>
> To put it another way, science is always hitting a wall, and always leaping over, breaking through, tunneling under, 
> or going around that wall. The former defines the lack of vision of those who fail to support science over useful 
> timescales; the latter defines the scientists who actually accomplish something.
>
> To give a few examples:
>       - science doesn’t happen “one grad student at a time” (yes, I’m talking to you, NSF)
>       - science doesn’t yield predetermined objective metrics in 18 months (to DARPA)
>       - science doesn’t yield return on investment in 5 years (to Google/MS/Intel/etc)
>
> Nearly every example of science we all celebrate failed to fit the above expectations. Perhaps that’s the only place 
> where there is actually a wall.
>
> Joe
> This message was sent to the list address and trashed, but can be found online.



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