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David Chapman
@Meaningness
I’ve seen this happen: there’s a breakthrough, and people moving into the field in response can act on it faster than those already there, because the incumbents feel responsible to their now-obsolete research projects.
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Michael is finishing a metascience essay
@michael_nielsen
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This happens often in research, where the most exciting research frontiers sometimes move faster than any individual researcher: twitter.com/michael_nielse
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David Chapman
@Meaningness
The main obstacle to scientific progress is “accountability”: “you said you would do experiment X and we gave you $Y to do that, and you didn’t, you went off and did something unrelated. No grant renewal for you!!” “Yes but X is now pointless” falls on finger-filled ears.
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David Chapman
@Meaningness
On the other hand, administrators have a responsibility to spend money wisely, and scientists have to be evaluated *somehow*. I don’t see any way out of this conundrum. It keeps me awake at 3am sometimes.
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