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Re: how to judge creative ideas (was: barometer parable)



Which reminds me of M., T., and W.'s dedication:

We dedicate this book/ To our fellow citizens/ Who, for love of truth,/
Take from their own wants/ By taxes and gifts,/ And now and then send forth/
One of themselves/ As dedicated servant/ To forward the search/ Into
other mysteries and marvelous simplicities/ Of this strange and
beautiful Universe,/ Our home.

bc


Jack Uretsky wrote:

Probably a classic example of long-delayed impact is general relativity,
which is needed for gpi's. The delay here was of the order of a century.
Regards,
Jack

On Sun, 9 Jun 2002, Michael Edmiston wrote:

(1) I'm not as confident as John seems to be that we can or should
categorize things as having long-delayed or long-enduring impact. It seems
to me that all "basic research" is long-enduring. Anytime we gain new
knowledge that knowledge exists forever unless it is later found incorrect.
I suppose if very few people cared about the new knowledge (at the time it
was acquired) then it could get forgotten. However, we're pretty good at
publishing research in searchable libraries, so all knowledge ought to be
long lasting short of wars or other disasters. Once we admit that basic
knowledge is long enduring then each new piece becomes one of the links in
John's chain that eventually becomes a useful product (beyond the usefulness
of pursuit of knowledge as good for the human endeavor).

(2) I am squeamish about using a business model (implying financial
criteria) to judge the "value" of knowledge. Perhaps I am stuck in my ivory
tower, but I still like to think knowledge is priceless even if it doesn't
put any change in my pocket. Pursuit of short-range economic profit not
only leads to Enron and similar fiascos, but also takes us another step away
from a civilization that is curious about the universe it inhabits.

I am curious if John would have funded the early NMR research in the mid
1940s. In the beginning it was just "basic research" in a physics lab. Hey
look, a proton in a magnetic field can be in one of two states, and we can
induce and observe transitions between the states using E&M waves of
radio-frequency. Did we have any idea that chemists would start using this
to help determine the structure of organic compounds? Even after the
chemists started using NMR did we have any idea that doctors would
eventually use this to acquire detailed images inside the human body? It
took about 30 years between the original basic research and the first work
aimed at producing images. Then it took another 10 to 20 years for MRI to
be a commonly used technique (depending on what one wants to define as commo
n).

In a world run by the business model, basic-NMR research to today's MRI
would be an incredibly long-delayed payoff. But it happened because the
knowledge was long enduring and we eventually figured out some uses for it.
In John's definitions, long-delayed impact is bad, and long-enduring impact
is apparently a little bit better. I would say that all basic research has
long-enduring impact and I view this a very good. Some long-delayed impacts
are ho-hum, but others (like MRI) are incredible. John seems to downplay
this type of incredible impact because anybody can use it to justify just
about any kind of research. I admit I can be somewhat arrogant and state
that basic physics research is more likely to lead to unanticipated
magnificent impacts compared to a study of the nesting habits of some
obscure bird. But then I remind myself that some people think the nesting
habit study is very interesting, and if they want to pursue that, and even
manage to get some funding for it, then more power to them.

Michael Edmiston
Professor of Physics and Chemistry
Bluffton College, Bluffton, Ohio 45817

edmiston@bluffton.edu
419-358-3270


--
"But as much as I love and respect you, I will beat you and I will kill
you, because that is what I must do. Tonight it is only you and me, fish.
It is your strength against my intelligence. It is a veritable potpourri
of metaphor, every nuance of which is fraught with meaning."
Greg Nagan from "The Old Man and the Sea" in
<The 5-MINUTE ILIAD and Other Classics>