Nick writes:
>> >>> ... infiltrate the group, ... protect itself from this prying ...,
>
>The problem of idea theft is certainly there today, but I'm worried
>that it might become worse with IF. For example, all you need to
>steal from a research group on an "Is coldfusion feasible before
>2010" future is the yes or no answer they have arrived at. But today,
>in order to benefit, you'd have to know their reasons behind their
>thinking (You can't publish just a statement saying "I believe in
>cold fusion." and expect to become famous for that.) ...
I grant that a system which more directly rewards people for answering
a question, rather than for telling a good story about their answer,
may allow for more stealing, if answers are easier to steal than stories.
I don't see idea theft as a huge problem though.
>Why would the prestigious journals not publish an explanation of
>these insights if their readers would like to read it? And if they
>don't, doesn't that create space for a new journal to crop up and
>gain prestige?
People like to read newspapers and magazines, but academic journals
don't displace all such things, nor do academics get much credit for
publishing in such places.
>What's wrong with the naive way of thinking about it: "As an
>academic, I usually give my ideas away for free, and I don't think
>I'm unusual in that respect, especially since giving away an idea for
>free seldom prevents one from "selling" it at a later occasion.
It's just not what happens. Read up on the sociology of science.
See "The Golem" for example. Read Collins, Woolgar, etc.
Robin Hanson
hanson@econ.berkeley.edu http://hanson.berkeley.edu/
RWJF Health Policy Scholar, Sch. of Public Health 510-643-1884
140 Warren Hall, UC Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 FAX: 510-643-8614
Received on Thu May 21 00:11:00 1998
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