4 ms·
Basic Income for Scientists. That's ok, you can have this idea for free.
by tyjrgherg 1y ago
Basic Income for Scientists.
That's ok, you can have this idea for free.
- self_awareness 1y agoThen scientists would waste their time doing pointless research. Oh wait... https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.3737 https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.3737
- tyjrgherg 1y agoSeveral points here: A) For the most part, scientists do research because they are curious and enjoy it, not because they plan on making money out of it. Getting a salarys allows them to do what they like, they don't it do for the salary. B) If there's a little slippage due to lazy, misaligned, or fraudlent people, it might still be worth it. Consider two proposals: "I'll give you money every month if you're a scientist and just hang around studying whatever you like" vs "I'll give you money every month if you hit research metrics XYZ as a scientist" - the former will allow you to pay way less and sciensists will still be happy. It's just getting them for cheap. C) I'm skeptical that you personally can tell whether the paper linked is pointless or not. Many ideas seem pointless when they first appear. Some are, and some contribute a tiny bit to the progress of understanding.
- self_awareness 1y agoWell, there are papers that prove people use warmer clothes in winter than in summer. If you want to argue there's a deeper meaning behind such science, then who am I to change your mind.
- dahart 1y agoAre there? Multiple papers? Citations please. Even if true, I have to assume there’s a high probability that you’re leaving out important context, misunderstanding the results, or just plain exaggerating.
- dahart 1y agoThat paper seems interesting. Why are you implying it’s pointless? What is your expertise in Mammalian or evolutionary biology? How do you know this won’t contribute or lead to something useful in veterinary or human medicine, or bioengineering, or anything else? Have you heard of the Golden Goose Awards? The first paragraph on their history page (https://www.goldengooseaward.org/history https://www.goldengooseaward.org/history) can be applied directly to your comment: “From 1975 to 1988, Senator William Proxmire issued monthly “Golden Fleece Awards,” which targeted federal spending Proxmire considered wasteful. Unfortunately, the awards often targeted federally-funded scientific research for ridicule. Science that sounded odd or obscure was easily singled out, but the awards reflected fundamental misunderstanding of how science works, and how such research can turn out to be extremely important regardless of whether it makes sense to non-scientists. Indeed, such research can have a major impact on society. The nature of scientific research is that its impact is hard to predict.” Don’t be a Proxmire.
- tyjrgherg 1y agoI envy how much better than me you defended my position, thank you.
- self_awareness 1y agoYour position is the most important thing, right? You even doxxed another HN user in another thread to have your vengeance. I saw it.
- tyjrgherg 1y ago> to publicly identify or publish private information about someone especially as form of punishment or revenge This person literally uses his own name as HN username. Very imaginative use of the word tho. EDIT: Even though I think that point of view is idiotic, I now worry that if you think like that, other people will too. Would you please report that comment so that a mod can edit it/delete it (I can no longer edit it).
- dahart 1y ago
- rsynnott 1y agoThat’d be https://research.ie/ https://research.ie/ Government research grants isn’t exactly a terribly innovative idea.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]