Pursuit of scientific research as a passionate, driven, ambitious and innate curious desire to follow a sequence of deductive or inductive steps for deciphering the working of a specific system (or the universe!) has unequivocally brought our civilization to where we find ourselves today. Outside academic settings, this pursuit is mostly perceived as, in fact is actively communicated, at large, by the scientific community itself, to be a dispassionate, logical and objective set of irrefutable arguments combined with pure intellectual rationale leading from cause to effect, relying, of course, on the verifiable repeatability of specific experimental, or symbolic, or algorithmic steps. This is true. It is the method of scientific inquiry.
However, the pursuit itself is driven by passion, ambition, and desire - very human emotions. Thus, the actions of the people engaged in the science, or in other words, the act of the pursuit itself can be irrational, unbalanced, manic and some times highly malevolent toward other individuals engaged in similar enterprises. This is not new. Such actions have been been documented since the beginning of the era of modern science. Throw into this mix now, if you will, the currently prevailing paradigm followed in conduct of scientific research by academic institutions that impose individual researchers to actively compete for "support dollars" in order to follow their passions and desires in quest of knowledge. There have been, will continue to be shake ups.
However, the pursuit itself is driven by passion, ambition, and desire - very human emotions. Thus, the actions of the people engaged in the science, or in other words, the act of the pursuit itself can be irrational, unbalanced, manic and some times highly malevolent toward other individuals engaged in similar enterprises. This is not new. Such actions have been been documented since the beginning of the era of modern science. Throw into this mix now, if you will, the currently prevailing paradigm followed in conduct of scientific research by academic institutions that impose individual researchers to actively compete for "support dollars" in order to follow their passions and desires in quest of knowledge. There have been, will continue to be shake ups.
Competition or rivalry is not always a bad thing - it can assure vitalized, zestful activity and allows for creative, innovative and dynamic methods to come to the fore quicker and faster than their paler counterparts. However, unbridled and unregulated competition born of human desires to continue pursuit of "relevant research" will certainly lead to unethical, cruel and punitive behavior by senior members of the research community toward young and upcoming intellects.
Such actions become especially pronounced when the senior members who are surfing down their waves, see younger minds racing to catch the next one. They see themselves in the younger intellects, but fail to acknowledge they cannot run, think, work, or create, like they used to. This is by no means universally true. There are older, graceful researchers, who cultivate younger minds, focus them by donating instead the whole support of their wisdom and experiences to help the direction of pursuit. There are also others, who disengage completely from the manic pursuit of scientific truths, and tend to focus on more philosophical scholarship and teaching.
Such actions become especially pronounced when the senior members who are surfing down their waves, see younger minds racing to catch the next one. They see themselves in the younger intellects, but fail to acknowledge they cannot run, think, work, or create, like they used to. This is by no means universally true. There are older, graceful researchers, who cultivate younger minds, focus them by donating instead the whole support of their wisdom and experiences to help the direction of pursuit. There are also others, who disengage completely from the manic pursuit of scientific truths, and tend to focus on more philosophical scholarship and teaching.
The ones that do neither of these, the ones who continue to seek personal glory and fame without recognizing that real effort, force and creativity was not theirs, are the ones that are most dangerous to the system.
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