Tobbic: “I think it’s a bit sad that status is one of the strongest motivators in discovery (and work in general). If it’s not discovery/knowledge that you genuinely aim for, you might e.g. refuse to hire a new promising researcher/ purposely withhold information/ start to make all kinds of political plots etc.. I’d hope ppl would honestly think about their motivations. Is the status/power you’re after just a method of achieving something else etc.?”
I think that my mind bases my emotional reward only on positive contributions which lead to status. For example, I think I would feel very happy if I discovered something new, but not happy at all if I stole the idea from someone else and then (somehow) caused everyone else to believe that I came up with it. I am trying to work out exactly why I work like this; I think it must be some need to prove myself, or validate my ability. Stealing ideas from other people does not validate my ability, rather it invalidates it. So really, it’s not the status I’m after. It’s validation I’m after, and it’s just the case that status within the scientific community usually accompanies vindication of one’s ideas and/or ability.
Tobbic: “I think it’s a bit sad that status is one of the strongest motivators in discovery (and work in general). If it’s not discovery/knowledge that you genuinely aim for, you might e.g. refuse to hire a new promising researcher/ purposely withhold information/ start to make all kinds of political plots etc.. I’d hope ppl would honestly think about their motivations. Is the status/power you’re after just a method of achieving something else etc.?”
I think that my mind bases my emotional reward only on positive contributions which lead to status. For example, I think I would feel very happy if I discovered something new, but not happy at all if I stole the idea from someone else and then (somehow) caused everyone else to believe that I came up with it. I am trying to work out exactly why I work like this; I think it must be some need to prove myself, or validate my ability. Stealing ideas from other people does not validate my ability, rather it invalidates it. So really, it’s not the status I’m after. It’s validation I’m after, and it’s just the case that status within the scientific community usually accompanies vindication of one’s ideas and/or ability.