AlphaFold is a prime example on the importance of cross-pollination between fields and the need to fund diversified research approaches, as well as inventing fu

AlphaFold is a prime example on the importance of cross-pollination between fields and the need to fund diversified research approaches, as well as inventing fundamentally new tools that are potentially applicable in a wide range of fields. It appears that the bandwagon effect in science is real and unfortunately too prevalent. Conservatism is a powerful institutional force that directs prestige and importantly funding away from 'fringe' approaches. Fundamental innovation often stems from maverick thinkers who still need time and resources to prove their ideas' worth but too much resource (funding, time, talent, publication venues) tends to gravitate towards eking out 1% better performance from mainstream ideas (while important, industry will often fund this kind of research anyway). In life sciences, SENS for example already took almost two decades just to start to establish itself and is still far from mainstream. All the while, 3-4 orders of magnitude more resources are expended to obtain those 1% improvements based on mainstream treatments with little chances of yielding significantly better health outcomes for the patient. Decision science should compel us to invest more resources on risky projects with high upsides. Humanity can afford to risk investing 15-20% of research resources, if not more, to explore fundamentally new approaches. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Negligible_Senescence https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Ne...