This article was discussed last week on HN but based on the author's blog post rather than ArsTechnica who is seemingly syndicating it to a larger audience.
I think that this is a general trend. Various fields tend to get into groupthink, and it is hard for people who buck the trend to pursue the usual academic path to research. But usually the herd has gone down a wrong turn, and it is up to a random rebel to make the next key discovery.
For an extreme example, I recommend Veratasium's video on blue LEDs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF8d72mA41M. But despite how extreme that example is, it does seem to be a trend. The direction that the herd has gone has been generally well-explored simply because a herd of researchers have already gone there. If they've found nothing, you'll probably find nothing either. So you have to back up.
Sadly, the way that academia is structured discourages this at every turn. :-(
I think the problem is there is academia the calling, and academia the profession.
Academia the calling is the pursuit of knowledge, truth, the advancement of humankind. It sometimes needs flexibility, other times rigor. Sometimes a full team of aligned individuals. Sometimes the singular concentration of one person over a long period of time. Results are not guaranteed, and even when they happen they may be revolutionary, or they may be a tiny stepping stone that only reveals it's greater purpose literally CENTURIES later. (Joseph Fourier died in 1830, never realizing that 2 centuries from his all modern life would not be possible without mathematical concepts named after him)
All of this is great, but...how does one survive to be able to do this? Historically, virtually every famous scientist you can think of was a noble. They had family money, servants. They didn't have to think about rent or laundry or cooking or parenting.
If instead we want to be able to guide humans with the ABILITY to do great things towards such pursuits, how do we compensate them? How do we track progress, and create reward structures to incentivize both achievement and progress?
Therein lies academia the profession. I am not in it, nor have I ever been it. I have nothing to gain from defending it. Every ex-academic in industry I come across is so relieved to be out of it.
But that is so sad and disappointing to me, and it pains me how often it's trashed on hackernews...
As an ex-academic, I have to heartily endorse this perspective. And it was the recognition of the echo chamber + necessary sucking up to "famous" people that caused me to leave academia.
However I have to say that Sabine Hossenfelder has done an excellent job of showing that one can still follow academia the calling by becoming a youtuber. I just wish that that role had more slots available for the intellectually honest...
The last great scientist who I know to have been a paragon of intellectual honesty was Richard Feynman. Maybe that reflects my ignorance. I think that it reflects how far academia has fallen. With prestigious positions such as President of Stanford University being won by outright fraud.
Original discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42057139
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