
Does Science Advance One Funeral at a Time? [pdf] - denzil_correa
http://www.econ.upf.edu/docs/papers/downloads/1498.pdf
======
rubidium
Wow. Now that is an example of a good study. No "take an existing dataset and
do some basic statistics" here.

Extensive research had to go into finding the right questions to ask, research
to get the data, cleaning and organizing the data, and then finding the right
analysis to answer the questions. As a non-expert in this field, I'm impressed
by the readability of the paper.

To be honest, I'd be surprised if similar results were not found in other
fields.

------
api
Doesn't this sort of thing present a problem for the idea of life extension?
Death serves important roles.

~~~
raziel2701
Absolutely, particularly for tenured positions that are for-life, you are
creating a constipation effect where the old, much less active researchers are
just hanging out occupying space that could be used for a new, more productive
faculty. Our university just cleared room for one more faculty after the
emeritus died at the age of 92.

~~~
api
Personally I don't think life extension is a good or even a meaningful thing
unless we're also extending the quality and vitality of life. Any kind of
extreme life extension must also include measures for restoring neural
plasticity, etc.

As it stands you sort of die before you die. Your brain stops forming new
connections and settles into its present state, which basically means you
can't learn. Some kind of neural "reset button" would be a requirement.

One of my darker fears about aging is that we basically become "philosophical
zombies" at some point before we die.

------
macintux
Even if true, it's progress, considering for how many centuries Aristotle's
ghost impeded science.

------
klagermkii
I do wonder if number of papers published is an accurate measure of scientific
progress, just as when talking about the tech industry I would disagree with
saying that the most innovative company is defined by the one with the most
patents granted.

------
amai
Unfortunately the study is limited to life scientists. Generalizing the
findings to all of science is a bold statement that needs more evidence than
this study can provide.

