“And if all the partners agree that something sounds like a good idea, they won’t do it. If only grant committees were this sane.”
but then you say:
“Properties like truth or good design are independent of novelty: 2 + 2 = 4, yes, really, even though this is what everyone else thinks too.”
In venture capital it may pay off to avoid doing what every one else does. But in funding grants, it seems there’s no advantage to that. It’s not like the science get devalued if it’s discovered twice. If everyone thinks it’s a good grant, then maybe it just is?
It’s not like the science get devalued if it’s discovered twice
If the knowledge discovered has a value X, then discovering it twice gives the discovery an average value X/2, and discovering it thrice gives the discovery an average value X/3.
This is of course a simplification, because the confirmation received from having multiple copies of the discovery is itself of some value, which flattens the value curve; however the value of a confirmation decreases with each confirmation already extant.
“And if all the partners agree that something sounds like a good idea, they won’t do it. If only grant committees were this sane.”
but then you say:
“Properties like truth or good design are independent of novelty: 2 + 2 = 4, yes, really, even though this is what everyone else thinks too.”
In venture capital it may pay off to avoid doing what every one else does. But in funding grants, it seems there’s no advantage to that. It’s not like the science get devalued if it’s discovered twice. If everyone thinks it’s a good grant, then maybe it just is?
If the knowledge discovered has a value X, then discovering it twice gives the discovery an average value X/2, and discovering it thrice gives the discovery an average value X/3.
This is of course a simplification, because the confirmation received from having multiple copies of the discovery is itself of some value, which flattens the value curve; however the value of a confirmation decreases with each confirmation already extant.