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I'm tempted to say, thank god, now that all the idiots are out of the way the real science can get funded, tested, and refined. But that offers up a question, d

I'm tempted to say, thank god, now that all the idiots are out of the way the real science can get funded, tested, and refined. But that offers up a question, does a whole lot of popular buzz really help out a field, or does it usually just turn out to be noise? Is there a measurable "actual progress" delta during times of increased popular attention and is it positive?

DarkTree 11y ago
of course there is, you just don't hear about it. Incremental progress is not always news-worthy, but it certainly matters and is happening all of the time.
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  I'm not talking about slow, incremental progress. I'm talking about the times when the new field is in actually in the spotlight. Does anything get done? The only real example I can think of where huge amounts of public attention actually got results was in aerospace. We actually did get to the moon. After that, I struggle to think of examples.
  - DarkTree 11y ago
    I would say the moon landing garnered public attention that had much different incentives than other industries, like nanotech. The moon landing was not just about advancing technology, but also overshadowing Russia's first entry into space with Sputnik, and showing our superiority. Even so, getting to the moon was not something that public attention and funding just 'made happen'. Luckily, it happened to coincide with the invention of microchips and computer power shrinking down enough to fit in the nose of a shuttle. All of this required incremental progress that wasn't always in the limelight. Sure, the actual moon landing phase was, but not everything leading up to it. Also, I would say Tesla is very much in the spotlight and making progress because of it, as one example.
OopsCriticality 11y ago
I did my PhD work on colloidal semiconductor quantum dots right at the peak of the nano fad. I would say that popular buzz doesn't help or hurt, it's mostly noise. Academically, we're expected to spend some time on outreach, so if your field is in the public eye at the moment it does make outreach easier. Believe it or not, the hype among scientists was even worse than among the public, to the point of (in my opinion) hurting good science. Everyone was shoehorning "nano" into their proposals, regardless if their work was legitimately nano[1], and that really hurt the SNR for manuscripts and grant proposals. [1] I define nanotechnology as dealing with something sufficiently small to access properties not seen in bulk materials. For many materials, restricting one or more dimensions below 100nm will lead to side-dependent properties. There was a lot of stuff during the Great Nano Hype that was claimed to be nano, but was say 500nm—that would be "submicron".
- stan_rogers 11y ago
  As an alternative medicine/new age wellness woo moneymaker, any product at all that's labelled "colloidal semiconductor quantum dots" would clean up. (I'm thinking little colourful stickers, perhaps with a bit of glitter in a varnish suspension.)
  - OopsCriticality 11y ago
    I decided when I heard about the maple water fad that if I ever Break Bad, I'm going to sell snake oil patent medicines to the Whole Foods crowd. Walking down their alternative medicine section was… inspirational. I especially liked the colloidal silver[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria
mcnamaratw 11y ago
It can help a lot if it's accompanied by money. An unbelievable amount was accomplished on fiber optic transmission in the late 1990s. The investment case behind it was wrong, but we got an incredible tech advance in less than 10 years.

DarkTree 11y ago

of course there is, you just don't hear about it. Incremental progress is not always news-worthy, but it certainly matters and is happening all of the time.

vinceguidry 11y ago
I'm not talking about slow, incremental progress. I'm talking about the times when the new field is in actually in the spotlight. Does anything get done? The only real example I can think of where huge amounts of public attention actually got results was in aerospace. We actually did get to the moon. After that, I struggle to think of examples.
- DarkTree 11y ago
  I would say the moon landing garnered public attention that had much different incentives than other industries, like nanotech. The moon landing was not just about advancing technology, but also overshadowing Russia's first entry into space with Sputnik, and showing our superiority. Even so, getting to the moon was not something that public attention and funding just 'made happen'. Luckily, it happened to coincide with the invention of microchips and computer power shrinking down enough to fit in the nose of a shuttle. All of this required incremental progress that wasn't always in the limelight. Sure, the actual moon landing phase was, but not everything leading up to it. Also, I would say Tesla is very much in the spotlight and making progress because of it, as one example.

OopsCriticality 11y ago

I did my PhD work on colloidal semiconductor quantum dots right at the peak of the nano fad. I would say that popular buzz doesn't help or hurt, it's mostly noise. Academically, we're expected to spend some time on outreach, so if your field is in the public eye at the moment it does make outreach easier. Believe it or not, the hype among scientists was even worse than among the public, to the point of (in my opinion) hurting good science. Everyone was shoehorning "nano" into their proposals, regardless if their work was legitimately nano[1], and that really hurt the SNR for manuscripts and grant proposals. [1] I define nanotechnology as dealing with something sufficiently small to access properties not seen in bulk materials. For many materials, restricting one or more dimensions below 100nm will lead to side-dependent properties. There was a lot of stuff during the Great Nano Hype that was claimed to be nano, but was say 500nm—that would be "submicron".

stan_rogers 11y ago
As an alternative medicine/new age wellness woo moneymaker, any product at all that's labelled "colloidal semiconductor quantum dots" would clean up. (I'm thinking little colourful stickers, perhaps with a bit of glitter in a varnish suspension.)
- OopsCriticality 11y ago
  I decided when I heard about the maple water fad that if I ever Break Bad, I'm going to sell snake oil patent medicines to the Whole Foods crowd. Walking down their alternative medicine section was… inspirational. I especially liked the colloidal silver[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria

mcnamaratw 11y ago

It can help a lot if it's accompanied by money. An unbelievable amount was accomplished on fiber optic transmission in the late 1990s. The investment case behind it was wrong, but we got an incredible tech advance in less than 10 years.