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I had hoped to read one of those occasional lists of the hard, outstanding problems scientists still need to solve, in biology, say, or physics. Instead, it's a
by hughw 10y ago
I had hoped to read one of those occasional lists of the hard, outstanding problems scientists still need to solve, in biology, say, or physics. Instead, it's a list of meta "problems" like science funding, or poor study designs.
- danieltillett 10y agoThe only problem in science is funding. Everything else is an opportunity.
- mac01021 10y agoAnd funding is not?
- danieltillett 10y agoWell the general lack of funding and the way the limited funding is distributed is the ultimate cause of all the problems of science. I guess solving the funding problem is an opportunity, but it seems to be beyond us.
- veddox 10y agoIf we had unlimited funding, most of the other problems would indeed take care of themselves. The problem is the "unlimited" part...
- danieltillett 10y agoThe problem is not only the level of funding, but they way the funding is distributed. Science could live happily with the current expenditure if the way the funding was distributed was smarter.
- PeterWhittaker 10y agoI expected the "hard list" as well. And got one, just not the one I expected. There are multiple crises in science these days, whether of communication or recruitment or replication or of fraud or of anti-intellectualism fueled in part by the most egregious examples of these problems. Fixing these problems, addressing these seven, would do much to restore the lustre and respect and authority science well done and scientists working well deserve.
- whorleater 10y ago"Hard" problems can be eventually solved through tenacity, funding can't. Funnily enough, in my experience funding and proper experimental design is the hardest part of solving a problem.
- Strilanc 10y agoWikipedia has a list for that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_unsolved_problems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_unsolved_problems