While I tend to agree with your rationale as it stands on its own, I don’t think the biggest problem with implementing is politics in the academic world, a bigger problem may be the potential for abuse that would come with the authority to restrict availability of information.
In fact, politically it this concept already shows itself as very valuable as well as attractive, lots of governments and professional groups do restrict access to information sometimes even as true believers in their own justifications but with an outcome that is decidedly unattractive for the losers in that game.
I think I have a solution to that. Delay the release of the information only long enough to set up a few groups of scientists who are cloistered away from the rest of the world in a monastery somewhere. Release the information to the public, but don’t tell the cloistered groups of scientists; to them you dole it out slowly. Or give each of them different parts of the data, or give it to them all at once and don’t let them collaborate.
Offer generous research funding and prestige for going to one of these Science Temples, and you’ll soon fill them up with ambitious post-docs eager to improve their chances of getting tenure. Maybe this isn’t the most humane system, but then neither is modern-day academia. Hell, I bet a lot of professors would jump at the opportunity to do some research, uninterrupted, with no classes to teach, and no funding proposals to write.
Notice that this method doesn’t require restricting information from anybody except small groups who have agreed to this restriction willingly.
How effective do you think this would actually be? I think first off, we have to ensure these volunteers believe in the principle of limited access to data, and aren’t just going after these positions because of the money. It seems like it would be hard to effectively cloister researchers away from the world while keeping them productive. I’m not a physicist, but I know several, and they spend an awful lot of time online for various reasons. They could access the internet only through a human proxy, but I would quit my job if I had to do that.
Cloistering juries away from trial-relevant news seems to be similar, but I don’t know anything about that.
There are also (at least) two strong motivations for cheating: wanting more data, and wanting to be more right. I don’t know any scientist who doesn’t always want more data, and knowing that data is being withheld must be frustrating. Furthermore, especially in a competitive environment, having access to the data your theory will be judged against is a strong advantage. I’m not at all sure how many physicists would be happy being cloistered away, and then be willing to follow the rules once there. I don’t know enough to take a stance one way or another, but I am skeptical.
While I tend to agree with your rationale as it stands on its own, I don’t think the biggest problem with implementing is politics in the academic world, a bigger problem may be the potential for abuse that would come with the authority to restrict availability of information.
In fact, politically it this concept already shows itself as very valuable as well as attractive, lots of governments and professional groups do restrict access to information sometimes even as true believers in their own justifications but with an outcome that is decidedly unattractive for the losers in that game.
I think I have a solution to that. Delay the release of the information only long enough to set up a few groups of scientists who are cloistered away from the rest of the world in a monastery somewhere. Release the information to the public, but don’t tell the cloistered groups of scientists; to them you dole it out slowly. Or give each of them different parts of the data, or give it to them all at once and don’t let them collaborate.
Offer generous research funding and prestige for going to one of these Science Temples, and you’ll soon fill them up with ambitious post-docs eager to improve their chances of getting tenure. Maybe this isn’t the most humane system, but then neither is modern-day academia. Hell, I bet a lot of professors would jump at the opportunity to do some research, uninterrupted, with no classes to teach, and no funding proposals to write.
Notice that this method doesn’t require restricting information from anybody except small groups who have agreed to this restriction willingly.
How effective do you think this would actually be? I think first off, we have to ensure these volunteers believe in the principle of limited access to data, and aren’t just going after these positions because of the money. It seems like it would be hard to effectively cloister researchers away from the world while keeping them productive. I’m not a physicist, but I know several, and they spend an awful lot of time online for various reasons. They could access the internet only through a human proxy, but I would quit my job if I had to do that.
Cloistering juries away from trial-relevant news seems to be similar, but I don’t know anything about that.
There are also (at least) two strong motivations for cheating: wanting more data, and wanting to be more right. I don’t know any scientist who doesn’t always want more data, and knowing that data is being withheld must be frustrating. Furthermore, especially in a competitive environment, having access to the data your theory will be judged against is a strong advantage. I’m not at all sure how many physicists would be happy being cloistered away, and then be willing to follow the rules once there. I don’t know enough to take a stance one way or another, but I am skeptical.