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Maybe we should bring back the concept of the gentleman(gentleperson for the modern era) scientist, who are both independent and wealthy. Charles Darwin, for e

by kiba 3y ago

Maybe we should bring back the concept of the gentleman(gentleperson for the modern era) scientist, who are both independent and wealthy. Charles Darwin, for example, was born into wealth and doesn't really need to work for a living.

dekhn 3y ago
There are several SROs ("Scientific Research Organizations") funded by extremely wealthy folks (typically made their billions in tech). They can offer scientists a number of nice things that universities can't- for example, Arc Institute, created by Patrick Collison among others, has plenty of lab space and computing for its members, compared to the space and computing available on campuses like UCSF and Stanford.
- bigbacaloa 3y ago
  [dead]
f6v 3y ago
Yes, I’m willing to accept donations to become multimillionaire and do science. Cash or check from you?
esafak 3y ago
Rich people today fund the people that do the work, rather than do it themselves. I'd say the new way is more productive.
renewiltord 3y ago
That never went away. We just have multiple avenues: 1. Government funded research 2. Private industrial research 3. Private personal research Usually, those involved in #3 are made fun of constantly by the lumpenproles. Before someone in category #3 makes it they look like Bryan Johnson doing Blueprint. That's the defining characteristic, actually. If you were to look at Ms. Kariko before she was successful, the majority of HN users would have made fun of her.
dkqmduems 3y ago
While we're at it let's bring back the monarchy!
- badcppdev 3y ago
  Well at the moment the UK could really benefit from tax revenue from a certain prosperous former colony so that sounds good to me. Not sure about the benefit for the colony.
  - graemep 3y ago
    Which of the UK's prosperous former colonies do you have in mind? There are several scattered around the world. Even ones that are not all that prosperous per capita achieve things like moon landings. You can have the monarchy without being a colony - several former colonies do.
tetrep 3y ago
According to this data, at least in the US, wealthy people are already "gentlepersoning" us in many elite fields: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/03/18/289013884/who-had-richer-parents-doctors-or-arists https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/03/18/289013884/who-...
- 2devnull 3y ago
  It’s international. The global elite are not constrained by borders.
  - maven29 3y ago
    There aren't a lot of places where going into academia has significant opportunity cost (like for example, losing out on the prospect of a yacht paid for by reactjs work).
chpatrick 3y ago
I think in obscure unprofitable fields that's already the case.
AlexErrant 3y ago
Musk and Bezos have their science/engineering experiments... and Gates through his investments. Hell, if we look at this broadly, many investments are being made in science - just through through (and to) institutions. Basic science funding seems sparse though. Investments tend to favor commercial entities.
- heyoni 3y ago
  Yes but they mostly direct stuff and wouldn’t know how to calibrate a pipette if their life depended on it
Kranar 3y ago
Funny you bring up Charles Darwin, since Darwin was never an academic.
edanm 3y ago
There's no need to "bring it back" because we never "got rid of it". It's just a natural part of some people being wealthy - they have more time/resources to spend on various pursuits, including art and science. This is still true, although to a lesser degree, because everyone is much better off. 500 years ago, you could only pursue some things if you were born rich. Today, the field has greatly expanded, to everyone's benefit.

by kiba 3y ago

dekhn 3y ago

There are several SROs ("Scientific Research Organizations") funded by extremely wealthy folks (typically made their billions in tech). They can offer scientists a number of nice things that universities can't- for example, Arc Institute, created by Patrick Collison among others, has plenty of lab space and computing for its members, compared to the space and computing available on campuses like UCSF and Stanford.

bigbacaloa 3y ago
[dead]

f6v 3y ago

Yes, I’m willing to accept donations to become multimillionaire and do science. Cash or check from you?

esafak 3y ago

Rich people today fund the people that do the work, rather than do it themselves. I'd say the new way is more productive.

renewiltord 3y ago

That never went away. We just have multiple avenues: 1. Government funded research 2. Private industrial research 3. Private personal research Usually, those involved in #3 are made fun of constantly by the lumpenproles. Before someone in category #3 makes it they look like Bryan Johnson doing Blueprint. That's the defining characteristic, actually. If you were to look at Ms. Kariko before she was successful, the majority of HN users would have made fun of her.

dkqmduems 3y ago

While we're at it let's bring back the monarchy!

badcppdev 3y ago
Well at the moment the UK could really benefit from tax revenue from a certain prosperous former colony so that sounds good to me. Not sure about the benefit for the colony.
- graemep 3y ago
  Which of the UK's prosperous former colonies do you have in mind? There are several scattered around the world. Even ones that are not all that prosperous per capita achieve things like moon landings. You can have the monarchy without being a colony - several former colonies do.

tetrep 3y ago

According to this data, at least in the US, wealthy people are already "gentlepersoning" us in many elite fields: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/03/18/289013884/who-had-richer-parents-doctors-or-arists https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/03/18/289013884/who-...

2devnull 3y ago
It’s international. The global elite are not constrained by borders.
- maven29 3y ago
  There aren't a lot of places where going into academia has significant opportunity cost (like for example, losing out on the prospect of a yacht paid for by reactjs work).

chpatrick 3y ago

I think in obscure unprofitable fields that's already the case.

AlexErrant 3y ago

Musk and Bezos have their science/engineering experiments... and Gates through his investments. Hell, if we look at this broadly, many investments are being made in science - just through through (and to) institutions. Basic science funding seems sparse though. Investments tend to favor commercial entities.

heyoni 3y ago
Yes but they mostly direct stuff and wouldn’t know how to calibrate a pipette if their life depended on it

Kranar 3y ago

Funny you bring up Charles Darwin, since Darwin was never an academic.

edanm 3y ago

There's no need to "bring it back" because we never "got rid of it". It's just a natural part of some people being wealthy - they have more time/resources to spend on various pursuits, including art and science. This is still true, although to a lesser degree, because everyone is much better off. 500 years ago, you could only pursue some things if you were born rich. Today, the field has greatly expanded, to everyone's benefit.