Complexity
Philosopher
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2005
- Messages
- 9,242
Nonsense
Sorry, Fnord, but I can't agree. You assume that only the "professionals" are entitled to pursue knowledge. You prefer the professional to the amateur. You prefer people who play the publish-or-perish game to those who do not. You prefer people who spend other people's money rather than own.
To 1: Are credentials necessary? Does the absence of credentials that you regard as sufficiently worthy imply that research will be fruitless and should not be attempted? Does the achievement of credentials that you regard as sufficiently worthy guarantee anything other than the means and persistence to jump through hoops?
To 2: Why does a publication history matter to you? I used to be an academic - I know how much of publication is a game that must be played to obtain tenure and to advance. What about not publishing until you have something to say? What about publishing outside of the professional journals? Why play the peer-reviewed game if you don't need the notch in the academic bedpost?
To 3: Outrageous. "I am curious" is the very best reason to pursue a line of research. Who says that you should only have one research interest? What in the world do credentials have to do with this?
To 4: Have a problem with theory? How do you think Einstein would have answered this question? His laboratory was in his imagination and didn't cost a thing. I've done most of my best work with a pad of paper and a pencil, usually sitting in a coffee shop. My laboratory is my mind and, when I need it, is on my laptop computer.
To 5: Why should I expect others to pay for my indulging in my enthusiasms? Do you think that an ability to con others out of someone's hard-earned money makes a researcher or his research more impressive? What about the amateur scientist? Do you think that the rise of the professional science establishment was an utterly good thing?
I've got four degrees, the last being a 1990 Ph.D. in Computer Science from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA.
I was an academic for 5 years after earning my Ph.D. I left academia after several years of disappointment and disgust.
While I am qualified to be a professional scientist, I've chosen to be an amateur scientist. I'm paid to perform various aspects of software engineering, but my real vocation is what I do after hours and at my own expense.
I avoid reading the literature regarding problems that I am wrestling with. I want to think about a problem with as fresh a mind as I can muster and do not want to get stuck in the ruts of the explorations of others.
I've done a great deal of research over the years on several significant problems. I think that I have some noteworthy results and will have more important results over the next year or so. For my own reasons, I have only shared this work with a few friends. I have given myself the gift of conducting my research precisely as I wish.
I have published very little. I currently am writing up the results of 20 years of unfunded research so that everything won't be lost when I die. With one or two possible exceptions (due to competition requirements), I have no interest in publishing anything in a journal - I'll put it up on my website.
I do research because I love it and I am curious. I pursue problems that interest me.
As I said, all I need are time, a pad of paper, a pen, and occasionally a computer to try things out on.
I think that I understand what you were trying to do in your post, and it is not without merit, but your generalizations are grotesque.
Welcome aboard, Dutch.
1) What are your credentials? Please provide earned degrees, date of completion, majors and minors, and universities attended. Please do NOT just say "I'm a professional/scientist/professor/whatever" and expect us to fill in the blanks, as this is a Red Flag of Woo.
2) What have you published? Please provide publication names, dates of publication, titles of articles, names of collaborators, and the names of members on your peer-group review boards. Please do NOT just give vague references to classified governmental, military, commercial, or private documents, as this is a Red Flag of Woo.
3) Why are you persuing this line of research? Is it in line with any of your previous research? How do your credentials (see #1) support this line of inquiry? Please do not just say "I am curious," as this is a Red Flag of Woo.
4) How are you persuing this line of inquiry? Please describe the laboratory you are using, and include the types of equipment you use in your research. If your research is currently theoretical only, then please site the reference materials, as well. Please do not merely give a vague and general description, as this is a Red Flag of Woo.
5) Finally, who is financing your research? Please list the names of the financial resource agencies. If your research is out of your own pocket, then please say so and explain why. Please do not just say "Donors who wish to remain anonymous," as this is a Red Flag of Woo.
Raise one or more of the aforementioned "Red Flags" and you may as well admit to being a mere dreamer involved in pseudo-science, rather than a professional involved in real scientific research. Good Luck.
-Fnord of Dyscordia-
Sorry, Fnord, but I can't agree. You assume that only the "professionals" are entitled to pursue knowledge. You prefer the professional to the amateur. You prefer people who play the publish-or-perish game to those who do not. You prefer people who spend other people's money rather than own.
To 1: Are credentials necessary? Does the absence of credentials that you regard as sufficiently worthy imply that research will be fruitless and should not be attempted? Does the achievement of credentials that you regard as sufficiently worthy guarantee anything other than the means and persistence to jump through hoops?
To 2: Why does a publication history matter to you? I used to be an academic - I know how much of publication is a game that must be played to obtain tenure and to advance. What about not publishing until you have something to say? What about publishing outside of the professional journals? Why play the peer-reviewed game if you don't need the notch in the academic bedpost?
To 3: Outrageous. "I am curious" is the very best reason to pursue a line of research. Who says that you should only have one research interest? What in the world do credentials have to do with this?
To 4: Have a problem with theory? How do you think Einstein would have answered this question? His laboratory was in his imagination and didn't cost a thing. I've done most of my best work with a pad of paper and a pencil, usually sitting in a coffee shop. My laboratory is my mind and, when I need it, is on my laptop computer.
To 5: Why should I expect others to pay for my indulging in my enthusiasms? Do you think that an ability to con others out of someone's hard-earned money makes a researcher or his research more impressive? What about the amateur scientist? Do you think that the rise of the professional science establishment was an utterly good thing?
I've got four degrees, the last being a 1990 Ph.D. in Computer Science from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA.
I was an academic for 5 years after earning my Ph.D. I left academia after several years of disappointment and disgust.
While I am qualified to be a professional scientist, I've chosen to be an amateur scientist. I'm paid to perform various aspects of software engineering, but my real vocation is what I do after hours and at my own expense.
I avoid reading the literature regarding problems that I am wrestling with. I want to think about a problem with as fresh a mind as I can muster and do not want to get stuck in the ruts of the explorations of others.
I've done a great deal of research over the years on several significant problems. I think that I have some noteworthy results and will have more important results over the next year or so. For my own reasons, I have only shared this work with a few friends. I have given myself the gift of conducting my research precisely as I wish.
I have published very little. I currently am writing up the results of 20 years of unfunded research so that everything won't be lost when I die. With one or two possible exceptions (due to competition requirements), I have no interest in publishing anything in a journal - I'll put it up on my website.
I do research because I love it and I am curious. I pursue problems that interest me.
As I said, all I need are time, a pad of paper, a pen, and occasionally a computer to try things out on.
I think that I understand what you were trying to do in your post, and it is not without merit, but your generalizations are grotesque.
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