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Strongly disagree. I don't want scientists to be turned into influencers or D-grade celebrities having to debase themselves on shows like Joe Rogan in order to
by threeseed 3y ago
Strongly disagree.
I don't want scientists to be turned into influencers or D-grade celebrities having to debase themselves on shows like Joe Rogan in order to get funding or justify their work. Or what happened this week on Twitter where the scientist was obsessed with trying to get above 15m views so he could get monetised.
It is great to learn more about the scientific process in this ad-hoc manner but I would prefer to let scientists figure out themselves what works best for them rather than it being driven from the unwashed masses.
- haswell 3y agoThere’s a part of me that deeply agrees with you, but I don’t think we need to assume binary extremes here. LK99 is reinvigorating broader interest in science, and this may be one of the most important things that could possibly happen at a moment in our global history that desperately needs broad support for research and progress. None of this matters if we don’t sort out some pretty major climate/energy problems, and soon. I agree that it would be problematic for science to become what you describe. What you describe is not some guaranteed outcome of a shift towards more public participation and awareness. And to be honest, if it does lead to some garbage behavior, that may be a small price to pay for getting the public interested and invested in the process of progress.