Andrew PerforsJan 7, 2023

How to slow down scientific progress

"Leo Szilard—the physicist who first conceived of the nuclear chain reaction and who urged the US to undertake the Manhattan Project—also wrote fiction. His book of short stories, The Voice of the Dolphins, contains a story “The Mark Gable Foundation,” dated 1948."

You can see the full thing at this link, but I've also taken a screenshot of an excerpt. 😬 🤔 😢

https://rootsofprogress.org/szilard-on-slowing-science

How to slow down scientific progress, according to Leo Szilard

“Science would become something like a parlor game. There would be fashions. Those who followed the fashion would get grants”

The Roots of Progress
Show threadPavel Korytov  

@AndyPerfors Although we don't know the counterfactual, that probably didn't work, considering how much progress has been made since then.

Even there was some Machiavelli back in the day, who rationalized screwing humanity like that for some reason, which is extremely doubtful tbh.

Jan 7, 2023 at 11:09amWeb
Show threadAndrew PerforsJan 8, 2023
@sqrtminusone Well, it's fiction... (But also, a plausible case can be made that this vignette illustrates a lot of what is wrong with science now. The question isn't "has progress been made in an absolute sense" but rather "how does this compare to what it could be")