This article will go into why basic unbiased research is fundamental to modern
civilizations. Metaphorically we can think of new transformative ideas,
technologies, cures for diseases, and life improving medicines and therapies as
gold. And now we follow this metaphor…
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Imagine are thousands of fields to dig in for gold. Gold could be found at any
place and any depth but no one knows the amount of gold that exists or where it
is located exactly. Everyone is born with a shovel but not everyone likes to dig.
Only a small portion of people choose to dig (researchers).
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As said, most people do not dig, but, of those who dig, some have not been well
trained and do not have expertise (layman researchers). These individuals dig
for gold at random among the thousands of fields. They may get lucky but the
odds are against them.
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Most of those who choose to dig for gold accumulate knowledge (education)
and are trained by other diggers so they know what field they are most likely to
find gold and the best way to dig for it. However, even for experts, the field they
choose is still very large and they don’t know exactly where to look. They pick a
spot and start digging, sometimes going deeper and deeper for years,
sometimes digging briefly before switching to a new spot. Some of the best
diggers have superior abilities or intuition and they can narrow down sub-fields
in the larger field that have more gold. However, ultimately even the best
diggers often require some luck and have to put in a lot of effort to find
anything.
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Whenever someone finds gold, several diggers may jump onto the same spot to
see if they can find more for themselves. This can be fruitful, but there are no
guarantees. Diggers have their own styles and methods even though they share
a similar base set of skills and knowledge. Since no one knows the best digging
style, diversity is important, especially since sub-fields may benefit from
different digging styles. Since fields are generally large, many diggers are
needed in order to have good chance of finding gold. If anyone knew exactly
where all the gold was, only a few diggers would likely be needed to uncover
everything and the rest would be redundant. But no digger possesses such a
power or likely ever will.
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Often when some high quality gold is found, a small group of diggers and non-
diggers (a corporation) will work on purifying the gold in that spot (making
products). Unfortunately, as they purify the gold and continue to search for
more, they often barricade off the area (obtain patents) so no other diggers can
get access. This makes it less likely for anyone to find more gold in that area.
Their secrecy, isolation, and limited time to purify the gold (meeting boardroom
deadlines) reduce their ability to find more gold themselves. Very importantly, it
must not be forgotten that the diggers were needed to find the gold in the first
place and non-diggers only work with gold that has already been found. Without
many diggers to cover the large diversity of fields, little gold is likely to ever be
found, as no one has the treasure map.