I always wanted to be a scientist. Not the white-coated genius who just manages to come up with a world-saving miracle cure for the hero to deploy at the end of the movie. No. More of a gentleman scientist like Charles Darwin... plodding away patiently for years to gather evidence supporting a theory.
How many people with great ideas have never had the time to explore them?
Darwin had money. He didn't have to get a job to support his family. Instead he spent his time working on his scientific ideas. The ideas he wanted to work on.
I know a couple of people who you might describe as scientists. One works in a University - she complains that she spends most of her time trying to get grants to fund work, rather than doing any work; and can only work on what will be funded. The other works for a commercial company - he complains that he can only work on things that can be patented and make a good return on the investment.
Neither of them are working on the ideas that they really want to.
What are we missing out on by forcing them to work on other things?
If I was a billionaire I would give out grants to smart people to allow them to work on whatever they wanted. Maybe there are such billionaires out there... as well as the ones who buy football clubs, stupidly fast cars and yachts?
If I was in charge of Universities I would set aside funds for sabbaticals so that individuals could follow their hunches and work on ideas that might only play out after a few years.
Most people aren't good at explaining why they think something is a good idea. And most people aren't good at choosing between risky options. Leaving the management of ideas to the market is a terrible idea.
No comments:
Post a Comment