4 ms·

I think we need to figure out how to extend human lifespan to allow for experts to continue to grow their knowledge/skills past the 40 year retirement mark to h

I think we need to figure out how to extend human lifespan to allow for experts to continue to grow their knowledge/skills past the 40 year retirement mark to have a greater chance of making more advanced breakthroughs.

timkam 4y ago
I think the (hopefully) more realistic action plan would be to change the academic system so that the average academic does not need to spend what amounts to the full official working hours on non-research tasks, latest after their first Post Doc, i.e., ~2 years after reaching academic maturity...
- edmcnulty101 4y ago
  Yeah good point. Also, many major historical scientific breakthroughs have been just a smart (usually rich) dude/dudette with a lot of free time and not a member of the conventional 'academic' system. So somehow figure out a way for public to get in on the research instead of government restrictions on who can purchase supplies which limits research to the .0001% who have PhD's. This opens the door to a lot more mind power going into research.
  - kevinventullo 4y ago
    At this point, I think “a lot of free time” is a more limited resource than supplies and lab equipment. Though I may be biased as I come from an extremely non-capital-intensive field (pure math).
rscho 4y ago
I see you've not met my advisors. Please no. Old scientists sometimes contribute to push the younger generation forward. In my experience though, most of the time they're a liability, due to their incredibly overdeveloped ego and their deep involvement into politics. I'm an academic MD, so this phenomenon might be more marked than in other fields. See the book "the structure of scientific revolutions".
- edmcnulty101 4y ago
  There's no private industry competition in academia, which allows those old scientists to become old slow codgers. Most scientific breakthroughs through out history were just private citizens outside of the conventional academic establishment. We need to put an end to these government restrictions on buying supplies and equipment which keeps the research down to just a tiny fraction of the population. Allowing private citizens to do research would put a fire under those old codgers asses.
  - creato 4y ago
    Money seems like a far more significant restriction than regulation, which will only affect a small subset of possible experiments one could do.
  - icelancer 4y ago
    >> Allowing private citizens to do research would put a fire under those old codgers asses. I have a few published papers in peer-reviewed journals with 30+ citations and I'm a college dropout, but I run a company that can fund/produce this kind of research as part of our mission statement. It's not really restrictions, but rather money/funding, and willingness of private companies to publish publicly (which is a big blocker for most).
  - honkler 4y ago
    it's not the government restriction, but wage slaving that keeps private individuals from making scientific breakthroughs. Perhaps UBI could be the answer.
  - Fomite 4y ago
    I'm in a field that requires no more advanced equipment than a decent laptop, and there's not a vast array of private citizens "putting a fire" under anyone.

timkam 4y ago

I think the (hopefully) more realistic action plan would be to change the academic system so that the average academic does not need to spend what amounts to the full official working hours on non-research tasks, latest after their first Post Doc, i.e., ~2 years after reaching academic maturity...

edmcnulty101 4y ago
Yeah good point. Also, many major historical scientific breakthroughs have been just a smart (usually rich) dude/dudette with a lot of free time and not a member of the conventional 'academic' system. So somehow figure out a way for public to get in on the research instead of government restrictions on who can purchase supplies which limits research to the .0001% who have PhD's. This opens the door to a lot more mind power going into research.
- kevinventullo 4y ago
  At this point, I think “a lot of free time” is a more limited resource than supplies and lab equipment. Though I may be biased as I come from an extremely non-capital-intensive field (pure math).

rscho 4y ago

I see you've not met my advisors. Please no. Old scientists sometimes contribute to push the younger generation forward. In my experience though, most of the time they're a liability, due to their incredibly overdeveloped ego and their deep involvement into politics. I'm an academic MD, so this phenomenon might be more marked than in other fields. See the book "the structure of scientific revolutions".

edmcnulty101 4y ago
There's no private industry competition in academia, which allows those old scientists to become old slow codgers. Most scientific breakthroughs through out history were just private citizens outside of the conventional academic establishment. We need to put an end to these government restrictions on buying supplies and equipment which keeps the research down to just a tiny fraction of the population. Allowing private citizens to do research would put a fire under those old codgers asses.
- creato 4y ago
  Money seems like a far more significant restriction than regulation, which will only affect a small subset of possible experiments one could do.
- icelancer 4y ago
  >> Allowing private citizens to do research would put a fire under those old codgers asses. I have a few published papers in peer-reviewed journals with 30+ citations and I'm a college dropout, but I run a company that can fund/produce this kind of research as part of our mission statement. It's not really restrictions, but rather money/funding, and willingness of private companies to publish publicly (which is a big blocker for most).
- honkler 4y ago
  it's not the government restriction, but wage slaving that keeps private individuals from making scientific breakthroughs. Perhaps UBI could be the answer.
- Fomite 4y ago
  I'm in a field that requires no more advanced equipment than a decent laptop, and there's not a vast array of private citizens "putting a fire" under anyone.