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The essence here really has nothing to do with reincarnation, but rather that a researcher has met the most basic scientific criteria in an area of research, an

The essence here really has nothing to do with reincarnation, but rather that a researcher has met the most basic scientific criteria in an area of research, and their research has been altogether dismissed anyway. That's a fair criticism of the current scientific community, but I suspect that nothing can be done about it without huge cultural changes, at least in the U.S. Strong refutation of someone's research would require a great deal of research and resources. For that work to become notable in the scientific community, it would typically be supported either by a university or by a respected private organization. In the university environment, a researcher would be strongly advised against pursuing topics like the investigation of the paranormal. They would be warned that they would be jeopardizing their career; they should go and work instead on some other subject, especially something that's a current hot topic that might lead to some solid funding. In private industry, if there isn't any money to be made from it, it won't be pursued. It's not altogether unlike the startup community. I have trouble imagining YC accepting a team that seriously proposed to develop, say, an entirely new operating system from scratch (unless perhaps it was already half complete, and that would be cheating in this case). "Who would use it?" "How will you make money?" "You seem like a great team, why don't you do X instead?" There seems to be very little space available right now for people who want to devote lots of resources to pursuing something for curiosity's sake.

drewcrawford 14y ago
There exist people who write operating systems purely for curiosity's sake. This is essentially the story of Linux. But it doesn't make sense to advocate funding these ventures. The people who are motivated purely by curiosity will by definition not be motivated by funding. No amount of funding would produce a second Linux. In fact, too much funding might have distracted Linus into working on something else instead. If you're really passionate about something, you figure out how to do it. Maybe you moonlight, or do it part-time, maybe you save up for a few years and cash out. But I think any software developer who feels that he cannot pursue a software project because of lack of funding needs either a reality check or a career change.
- thaumaturgy 14y ago
  > For that work to become notable in the scientific community, it would typically be supported either by a university or by a respected private organization.

drewcrawford 14y ago

There exist people who write operating systems purely for curiosity's sake. This is essentially the story of Linux. But it doesn't make sense to advocate funding these ventures. The people who are motivated purely by curiosity will by definition not be motivated by funding. No amount of funding would produce a second Linux. In fact, too much funding might have distracted Linus into working on something else instead. If you're really passionate about something, you figure out how to do it. Maybe you moonlight, or do it part-time, maybe you save up for a few years and cash out. But I think any software developer who feels that he cannot pursue a software project because of lack of funding needs either a reality check or a career change.

thaumaturgy 14y ago
> For that work to become notable in the scientific community, it would typically be supported either by a university or by a respected private organization.