Science – A Poem

¹ I get ‘told’ this many times – if not directly indirectly through the questions asked by potential scientific collaborators. When startups can fund their scientific initiatives, it is often assumed a priori that there was no peer review. However, this is often not the case because VCs and angels do actually base their financing decisions on due diligence and scientific reviews.

² Often “good enough” is measured by publications (e.g. 200+), patents (e.g. 30+), grant funding (e.g. $10MM+), or startup exits (e.g. $30MM+). A mixture of these things in today’s world forms the economic basis by which we judge scientific production. But this is contrary to pure science – which in and of itself selects for ideas in an unbiased way.

³ I think many times good ideas aren’t pursued if they are contrary to public opinion. In the same way, many scientists don’t explore contrarian ideas mostly for the sake of saving their reputations. This can limit the questions that they ask.