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Katy Barnett's avatar

I think a lot of these problems have been created by the incentives, most particularly the “publish or perish” mentality, and the need to justify one’s work to governments for the purposes of obtaining government grants. I wrote a post on it here: https://whatkatydid.substack.com/p/what-is-the-purpose-of-academia My post considers legal academia, because that is what I am familiar with, but I think a lot of the same problems operate in science as well as a few more (p hacking and so forth). The intention of the incentives was not to produce what has occurred; but it has been an unintended consequence. Have you read Stuart Ritchie’s Science Fictions? Quite alarming for this purpose.

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Caroline Ross's avatar

I have just begun The Matter with Things after coming back from visiting Iain on Skye last month. His earlier book The Master and His Emissary was a huge contribution to so many fields, including my own life and study, so I am glad to hear so many reports that 'The Matter' is as important as 'The Master'. As he said himself in many conversations, no-one could love real science more than McGilchrist. So it is a deep shame to see the current fear of genuine curiosity and exploration, or care of the wider context, often trounced by money and vested interests. Thanks for this great essay. Here is the link to last month's interview, it' not about 'science' but you may enjoy it anyway. https://carolineross.substack.com/p/in-conversation-with-iain-mcgilchrist

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