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reflecting on @KevinSimler’s interactive essay. It’s fun and easy—read it first!
His post has a sudden plot twist toward the end, and takes on a darker tone.
[SPOILERS of sorts coming]https://twitter.com/KevinSimler/status/1128079359267430400 …
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Kevin’s post interactively illustrates and applies percolation theory. I’m envious and admiring; I’ve been looking for an application of percolation theory for 30 years. He found one right where I’m working now, in understanding scientific progress! https://meaningness.com/metablog/how-to-think …pic.twitter.com/R9WH16yfcU
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The last in Kevin’s series of interactive illustrations shows the effect adding a fraction of “careerists” to scientific knowledge networks. Once you get to a critical percent, they shut down progress. The model isn’t quantitative, but usefully conveys the intuition.pic.twitter.com/WWTtIcZCro
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Careerism is a natural consequence of the incentives created by what Richard Feynman called “cargo cult science.” https://meaningness.com/metablog/upgrade-your-cargo-cult …pic.twitter.com/3KdDtC2pk7
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“Careerism” has the implicit implication that science is a GOOD career, and people do it for that reason. Unfortunately, it’s a terrible career, and one reason we have so much bad science is that many of the people who could best do it choose not to, because they figure that out
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Conversely, most people currently working in science shouldn’t be. They either can’t do it, or don’t really care to. (Maybe they could or would given better incentives.) As Kevin observes, going-through-the-motions science has crowded out the real thing. https://meaningness.com/metablog/upgrade-your-cargo-cult …pic.twitter.com/mQ5P1cSFQB
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Making science a not-terrible career has to be part of fixing incentives. But then more people will be attracted who want good careers. So there has to be a filter. Which is what brought us to the current impasse:
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Replying to @Meaningness
I disagree with the implicit hypothesis that "carreerists" cannot do good science, if one defines a carreerist as someone who simply want a good carreer (if it's someone who cares solely about power and prestige, that's a bit different) (Also people change over time)
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Yes, I hope I said that later in the thread!
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interactive essay!
How to prevent disease, control nuclear reactions, and encourage the spread of ideas. All with playable simulations.