Thanks for writing this Michael, it seems to be a really important topic to have explored. I particularly respect this conclusion: “Not only does there not seem to be a problem where we feared there might be one, but we may well be able to fix the problem if we later discover it does exist.”
My impression is that it’s very rare for academics to do research into a topic and then write a conclusion that says “actually this isn’t that important, and it might not be a problem”. In fact, I think academics might often overstate the importance of the problem they are working on. I think a few reasons for this could be:
-Academics might feel more satisfied in their own work if they feel they’re solving an important problem, and less satisfied working on problems that turn out to be unimportant.
-Academics gain social and professional credit for working on ‘important’ problems, and loose it for working on problems that turn out to be not important.
-Academics stand to gain further research funding if they can convince people the problem they’re working on is important and pressing.
-Academics often work intensely on one field of research and don’t see the ‘bigger picture’, which leads they genuinely believe whatever they’re working on is more important than it is.
Thanks for writing this Michael, it seems to be a really important topic to have explored. I particularly respect this conclusion: “Not only does there not seem to be a problem where we feared there might be one, but we may well be able to fix the problem if we later discover it does exist.”
My impression is that it’s very rare for academics to do research into a topic and then write a conclusion that says “actually this isn’t that important, and it might not be a problem”. In fact, I think academics might often overstate the importance of the problem they are working on. I think a few reasons for this could be:
-Academics might feel more satisfied in their own work if they feel they’re solving an important problem, and less satisfied working on problems that turn out to be unimportant.
-Academics gain social and professional credit for working on ‘important’ problems, and loose it for working on problems that turn out to be not important.
-Academics stand to gain further research funding if they can convince people the problem they’re working on is important and pressing.
-Academics often work intensely on one field of research and don’t see the ‘bigger picture’, which leads they genuinely believe whatever they’re working on is more important than it is.