What's worse than being on a grant treadmill always picking a safe subject with a conservative hypothesis designed only to advance to the next round of funding?
Nothing I can imagine. Most scientists probably feel the same way, though everyone knows someone in research who gets by just as I described.
Good science, fun science, is instead about being wrong until you are right. Now, some outside science want to use that broadmindedness against scientists. Like invoking Galileo and Einstein despite knowing nothing at all about the actual careers, science and personalities of those two people, they will try to challenge scientists that if every ridiculous possibility is not given equal weight, they are denying the openness of science. Of course, that is not true at all. Life is too short to argue with people about perpetual motion or their philosophy of biology.
Being wrong is an academic concept. Like sharing data and making products free for the public, everyone agrees it is a great idea - for other people. No one wants to be wrong, much as we all agree that it has value.
Ross Pomeroy, writing at Scientific American blogs, notes
Wrongness is something we all secretly or openly dread. According to self-described “Wrongologist” Kathryn Schulz, in the abstract, we all understand that we’re fallible, but on the personal level, we leave little to no room for being wrong.
That's just prioritizing our time effectively. It's good to be wrong, but let's not get crazy about it.
The Key to Science (and Life) Is Being Wrong By Steven Ross Pomeroy Scientific American blogs
