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As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

nautil.us

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Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#101

Post by ToValueFunfetti »

leonidasrup wrote: post #75
silvestrov wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of boomers thinks windmills are against the natural order and will end the world. Also solar parks are just the most ugly thing in the world. They must be banned.

A lot of younger people think that building of solar power and wind power in the past years caused decrease of global CO2 emissions. In reality, global CO2 emissions have been increasing each year. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions

A lot of people think closing the blinds will keep their houses cooler in the summer. In reality, their houses get warmer in the summer.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#103

Post by etiam »

ktallett wrote: post #9

Disruptive work nowadays is not very popular with institutions and doesn't win you grants. What does win grants is plodding along on a same path usually towards some end goal that is the latest buzzword. Those who stay in academia all start aspirational and wish to change the world, but the system sucks it out of them.

Yep. Admittedly the post doesn't exactly claim it's due to biological aging, but it could be perceived as implied.

It seems appropriate to also recognize that it's simply tiring to be to be in constant opposition to most of the social environment, and most people can't keep doing it at undiminished intensity for a full lifetime.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#104

Post by teddyh »

echelon_musk wrote: post #84
hackthemack wrote: post #6

I prefer the full quote by Douglas Adams. I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented…

Or to be clichéd and quote 2Pac: > You don't see no loud mouth thirty-year old motherfuckers

“There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.“

— Lieutenant Charles L. Wright

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#105

Post by [deleted] »

leonidasrup wrote: post #75
silvestrov wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of boomers thinks windmills are against the natural order and will end the world. Also solar parks are just the most ugly thing in the world. They must be banned.

A lot of younger people think that building of solar power and wind power in the past years caused decrease of global CO2 emissions. In reality, global CO2 emissions have been increasing each year. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions

[deleted]

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#106

Post by ferguess_k »

My parent hunch is that most researchers choose to marry and have kids, and that significantly reduces his, and maybe, just maybe, that changes in hormone also makes him/her less aggressive and ambitious -- in all perspectives.

I'd really love to see some researches on scientists who NEVER marry/have kids against people who married and have kids.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#107

Post by cafebabbe »

kubb wrote: post #62
hackthemack wrote: post #6

I prefer the full quote by Douglas Adams. I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented…

Folks! This is a quip from a novelist! Take it with a grain of salt. It has to be punchy, not accurate.

Ah, humor, this alien concept.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#108

Post by RandomWorker »

Classic explore versus exploit. When I was a young researcher I was given a lot of impossible opportunities. Tried 10 and did two pieces of disruptive work. That work has accrued hundreds of citations and whole research groups have received millions to continue to work on it. I didn’t see any meaningful money from that work. Now, I have a family and my research is based on requests that have deliverables and pay the bills. My skills in fact finding, synthesizing, and presenting the work is 1,000,000x better. But the risks are 10x less in this work and the pay is 100,000x more.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#109

Post by bradley13 »

As others have mentioned: being fresh to a field, you are more likely to bring fresh insights. Once you are established, you create your own mental ruts.

Perhaps more important is simple mental capability. This peaks around the age 25-35. I look back at some of the research I did around age 30, and - wow. Now, at age 60+, there is absolutely no chance that I could duplicate that level of sheer concentration and achievement.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#110

Post by ljosifov »

slillibri wrote: post #27
hackthemack wrote: post #6

I prefer the full quote by Douglas Adams. I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented…

I don't know about number 3. As a 53 year old Gen X'er, I still haven't come across things that see against the natural order. The main things I don't understand are things like the Humane AI pin, which didn't seem against the natural order, I just didn't see the appeal or usefulness of it. Maybe it just doesn't seem like there is much new being invented.

What we see and experience - it's all natural, it's the natural order. :-) When people claim something is un-natural, usually it's natural in that occurs in nature, only - they themselves find it objectionable. It's something they personally dislike, and would rather it not happen.
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