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Brian Scholl: Misc Academic Musings

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Miscellaneous Academic Musings The utility of reading papers, attending talks, etc. I recently read an account (I forget where) of some scientists who were asked to respond to a senator's accusation that 90% of science was useless CV-building crap, and that it was a crime for the government to fund such research. Most of the respondents contested both parts of this accusation, maintaining that most of the research was ultimately useful -- 'adding another brick to the temple of science' and stuff like that. One fellow had a more interesting answer, though: he contested only the second part of the accusation. "Look", he said (and I'm paraphrasing now), "you're right about the first part: 90% of funded science is mostly useless. The other 10%, though, results in extremely surprising and useful advances that often really help people. And here's the thing: you often can't identify that 10% of useful science in advance! Indeed, you often can't tell until the research has long b

Brian Scholl: Misc Academic Musings Miscellaneous Academic Musings The utility of reading papers, attending talks, etc. I recently read an account (I forget where) of some scientists who were asked to respond to a senator's accusation that 90% of science was useless CV-building crap, and that it was a crime for the government to fund such research. Most of the respondents contested both parts of this accusation, maintaining that most of the research was ultimately useful -- 'adding another brick to the temple of science' and stuff like that. One fellow had a more interesting answer, though: he

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