People seem unable to grasp that the incentives for academic researchers are different than for those in the paid employ of corporations. The primary currency of academic scientists is not money, it’s citations. And if you can DISprove a prevailing theory, you have it made!!! The scientist who finds the surprising, unexpected thing — with research that undergoes peer review, and with data and analyses that are publicly available (which is de rigeur for academic research) — will get cited all over the place and can get tenure just about anyplace s/he chooses.
There is no incentive to just back up what everyone already knows (that probably won’t even get published). Most academic researchers spend their lives making incremental refinements of existing theories (the necessary everyday work of building scientific knowledge).It is the fortunate few who come up with something radically new — and the rest dream of a day they might do so.
The incentives in academia go exactly opposite to what climate deniers seem to think. A scientist who could disprove the current climate change theories held by 95% of scientists, with rigorous research that withstands peer review, would have it made!
People seem unable to grasp that the incentives for academic researchers are different than for those in the paid employ of corporations. The primary currency of academic scientists is not money, it’s citations. And if you can DISprove a prevailing theory, you have it made!!! The scientist who finds the surprising, unexpected thing — with research that undergoes peer review, and with data and analyses that are publicly available (which is de rigeur for academic research) — will get cited all over the place and can get tenure just about anyplace s/he chooses.
There is no incentive to just back up what everyone already knows (that probably won’t even get published). Most academic researchers spend their lives making incremental refinements of existing theories (the necessary everyday work of building scientific knowledge).It is the fortunate few who come up with something radically new — and the rest dream of a day they might do so.
The incentives in academia go exactly opposite to what climate deniers seem to think. A scientist who could disprove the current climate change theories held by 95% of scientists, with rigorous research that withstands peer review, would have it made!