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I mean, the system is working but it could work better. Politics is actually working right now too -- we have roads and jobs and we aren't starving -- but it co

I mean, the system is working but it could work better. Politics is actually working right now too -- we have roads and jobs and we aren't starving -- but it could definitely work better. It sounds like what science needs then is a cultural shift to supporting and funding more controversial ideas, and being more content with dissent. Maybe we need to make a more intentional effort to fund the contrarians with the understanding that maybe they're dead wrong, but maybe giving them some ammunition will give us a head start down the correct path. The US built the atom bomb so fast because we tried multiple approaches at once. We should approach basic science the same way. (In fact, writing that is seems obvious, because I guess I assume science is "supposed" to work that way anyway.)

igorkraw 7y ago
What controversial ideas are missing funding, which dissent is missing please? What's the bar. I'm genuinely asking constructively, because I would like to find a scalable improvement on the rather slow moving funding structure (unless driven by hype). But there are hundreds of free energy, "race realist", AGW deniers etc. being blocked by the current system, as well as genuine con men. Also, I dislike the idea that science doesn't like controversial ideas or dissent. Yes there is group think, yes there are cabals, but in general, if you find weird results, you publish and they get discussed. What else do people want to come out of the proposal controversial ideas? Controversial doesn't make it automatically good
- lopmotr 7y ago
  You have to be careful with "race realist". It can mean people who believe there is only a small number of sharply divided races, such as mongoloid, negroid, and caucasoid. But it can also be used to describe hereditarians who identify meaningful classifications of people with boundaries roughly corresponding to traditional races. Those latter ideas are quite respectable scientifically even though they're demonized in popular culture.
  - igorkraw 7y ago
    Can you give me some examples of mainstream geneticists (not popular, just academically accepted) which will counter h ttps://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Hereditarianism and the sources in it? Otherwise, your comment reads to me "you have to be careful with this racist euphemism, it can refer to two different attempts of racist pseudoscience trying to appear legit"

igorkraw 7y ago

What controversial ideas are missing funding, which dissent is missing please? What's the bar. I'm genuinely asking constructively, because I would like to find a scalable improvement on the rather slow moving funding structure (unless driven by hype). But there are hundreds of free energy, "race realist", AGW deniers etc. being blocked by the current system, as well as genuine con men. Also, I dislike the idea that science doesn't like controversial ideas or dissent. Yes there is group think, yes there are cabals, but in general, if you find weird results, you publish and they get discussed. What else do people want to come out of the proposal controversial ideas? Controversial doesn't make it automatically good

lopmotr 7y ago
You have to be careful with "race realist". It can mean people who believe there is only a small number of sharply divided races, such as mongoloid, negroid, and caucasoid. But it can also be used to describe hereditarians who identify meaningful classifications of people with boundaries roughly corresponding to traditional races. Those latter ideas are quite respectable scientifically even though they're demonized in popular culture.
- igorkraw 7y ago
  Can you give me some examples of mainstream geneticists (not popular, just academically accepted) which will counter h ttps://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Hereditarianism and the sources in it? Otherwise, your comment reads to me "you have to be careful with this racist euphemism, it can refer to two different attempts of racist pseudoscience trying to appear legit"