“this is an argument against scientific monoculture”

Adam Mastroianni

The word boring really stuck with me. Reviewing should be interesting. It should matter whether the paper’s claims turn out to be true or not, and the only reason to review it is that you care about those claims. The fact that we find it boring suggests that part of us, deep down, believes that the paper in front of us doesn’t actually deserve our attention.

Akshat Mahajan:

[W]e *have* truly open, zero moderation platforms (e.g. vixra.org). They have failed to produce the intended effect of better science, for many foundational reasons. 

I agree with Mahajan’s first point: we’ve got all the infrastructure we need, but people aren’t using it to experiment. They just post their PDFs on a website before trying to get them published in a journal, so whatever they produce is still intended to pass peer review. It’s like everyone has a Jeep that can go off-road, and yet they only ever drive on the highway. 

I disagree with Mahajan’s second point: these platforms haven’t failed. If you give everyone a Jeep hoping that they’ll drive it into the wilderness and nobody does, don’t fix the Jeeps; fix the drivers. You need to make them less afraid to leave the highway, convince them that there’s something worth seeing out there, and gas up their tanks.

This is why, as much as I would love to see people try out all the alternative platforms they suggested, I don’t think we’ll revolutionize science by building the perfect website. We have to a) free minds, and b) fund them. I’m working on (a) right now, and I’ve got plans in the works for (b).