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If there is 1 job at a university. And there are 10 researchers applying. And 1 took this improvement in research speed to do more research, and 9 took the chan

by ecshafer 11mo ago

If there is 1 job at a university. And there are 10 researchers applying. And 1 took this improvement in research speed to do more research, and 9 took the change to play more piano and take more walks, then most likely that one will get the job. This competitive nature is what has driven society forward and not kept us at just above subsistence agriculture.

swatcoder 11mo ago
Not really. It's a very recent fad to treat "research" as some kind of mechanical factory process that need simply optimize units research per unit time. When you sit down to think about it, what does it really even mean to do "more research"? What concrete phenomenon are you observing to decide what that is? Across the journey from "subsistence agriculture", there have been countless approaches to nurturing innovation and discovery, but abstracting it into an abstract game measured by papers published and citations received is extremely novel and so far seems to correlate more with a waste and noise than it does discovery. Science and research is not in a healthy period these days, and the model that you describe, and seem to take for granted or may even be celebrating, plays a big role in why.
- pixl97 11mo ago
  Eh the more problem space you explore the more energy is required to explore it. Looking at the last 300 years and saying 'look at all the low hanging fruit we picked' doesnt describe where we are now.
throwup238 11mo ago
> This competitive nature is what has driven society forward and not kept us at just above subsistence agriculture. The UN estimates that around 500 million households or 2 billion people are still subsistence farmers. In 2025. Fat lot of good competition has done them, especially when they don’t have enough surplus to participate in a market economy to begin with.
- pixl97 11mo ago
  I mean with our population increase in the last 100 years these numbers are showing a massive decrease in poverty with sub Saharan Africa holding the highest remaining areas of poverty.
- robotresearcher 11mo ago
  Their children are far more likely to survive childhood than at any time in history.

swatcoder 11mo ago

Not really. It's a very recent fad to treat "research" as some kind of mechanical factory process that need simply optimize units research per unit time. When you sit down to think about it, what does it really even mean to do "more research"? What concrete phenomenon are you observing to decide what that is? Across the journey from "subsistence agriculture", there have been countless approaches to nurturing innovation and discovery, but abstracting it into an abstract game measured by papers published and citations received is extremely novel and so far seems to correlate more with a waste and noise than it does discovery. Science and research is not in a healthy period these days, and the model that you describe, and seem to take for granted or may even be celebrating, plays a big role in why.

pixl97 11mo ago
Eh the more problem space you explore the more energy is required to explore it. Looking at the last 300 years and saying 'look at all the low hanging fruit we picked' doesnt describe where we are now.

throwup238 11mo ago

> This competitive nature is what has driven society forward and not kept us at just above subsistence agriculture. The UN estimates that around 500 million households or 2 billion people are still subsistence farmers. In 2025. Fat lot of good competition has done them, especially when they don’t have enough surplus to participate in a market economy to begin with.

pixl97 11mo ago
I mean with our population increase in the last 100 years these numbers are showing a massive decrease in poverty with sub Saharan Africa holding the highest remaining areas of poverty.
robotresearcher 11mo ago
Their children are far more likely to survive childhood than at any time in history.