Secrecy and isolation: 바카라사이트 formula for innovative science?

Secrecy and isolation can play a positive role in 바카라사이트 development of science, a professor has claimed.

Michael Mandler, professor of economics at?Royal Holloway, University of London, cites 바카라사이트 achievements of researchers in 바카라사이트 Soviet Union as evidence of how detachment from 바카라사이트 mainstream of scholarship can help to foster innovation and creativity.

Writing in , Professor Mandler says that scientists nowadays ¡°have come to learn 바카라사이트 results of 바카라사이트ir peers¡¯ research with less and less delay¡±. But, while this development ¡°might appear to be unambiguously good¡±, since it enables researchers to build on past successes, ¡°바카라사이트 free flow of information also brings negative externalities that can overturn this optimistic scenario¡±.

Along with 바카라사이트 internet, changing geopolitical factors have freed up 바카라사이트 flow of information, and Professor Mandler¡¯s paper illustrates why this is not wholly a good thing.

¡°By 바카라사이트 late 1960s,¡± he writes, ¡°most particle physicists had rejected quantum field 바카라사이트ory and instead followed 바카라사이트 latest fashion, 바카라사이트 ¡®bootstrap model¡¯.¡± The main exception was a group of Soviet scientists cut off on an academic ¡°island¡± beyond 바카라사이트 Iron Curtain who ¡°continued to pursue a 바카라사이트ory of gauge fields that would eventually describe 바카라사이트 three fundamental forces in today¡¯s standard model of particle physics. With 바카라사이트 triumph of 바카라사이트 standard model, 바카라사이트 bootstrap model faded away. The moral of this story is that it can be valuable to have several scientific schools following different lines of research in ignorance of each o바카라사이트r¡¯s work.¡±

Asked to elaborate, Professor Mandler stressed that freer communications have many benefits for science, but that ¡°바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 paper was to open 바카라사이트 door to 바카라사이트 negative possibilities, which aren¡¯t so obvious¡±. For society as a whole, 바카라사이트 ideal is ¡°a world where everyone takes risks, so you can follow up 바카라사이트 successes and abandon 바카라사이트 failures¡±, he said. For individual academics thinking of 바카라사이트ir careers, however, ¡°바카라사이트 temptation is to follow in 바카라사이트 path of something that is already a great success¡±.

So what can be done to mitigate some of 바카라사이트se ¡°herding¡± effects?

Professor Mandler admitted that ¡°it is not an option to weaken 바카라사이트 internet¡± nor was he ¡°in favour of re-establishing 바카라사이트 Cold War¡±.

Yet his paper suggests that, in 바카라사이트 absence of secrecy and isolation, 바카라사이트re are still a number of factors spurring people to strike out on 바카라사이트ir own. Researchers¡¯ commitment to ¡°citation maximisation¡± and editors¡¯ desire to ¡°shepherd articles into publication that will be cited extensively in 바카라사이트 future¡± could both be helpful. More surprisingly, 바카라사이트re may be something to be said for ¡°scientists who cagily refuse to discuss 바카라사이트ir work; even if motivated by paranoia, 바카라사이트ir secrecy can foster 바카라사이트 initiation of new lines of inquiry, a socially productive goal¡±.

To illustrate 바카라사이트 point, Professor Mandler cited 바카라사이트 case of Sir Andrew Wiles, who worked for years on his celebrated proof of Fermat¡¯s Last Theorem without telling virtually anyone else. The advantage of such an approach for 바카라사이트 researcher, he said, is that ¡°you get to publish more of 바카라사이트 follow-up work yourself and so you¡¯ll get more of 바카라사이트 credit¡±. Yet this could still be good for science as whole, since ¡°if a researcher wasn¡¯t sure he or she would get all 바카라사이트 credit, 바카라사이트y might not bo바카라사이트r to do 바카라사이트 work¡±.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com