Stephen Hawking died today. Among the eulogies is this one showing a 2017 Facebook posting by the physicist. I wonder if Facebook can be considered harmful to the progress of science. If a scientist is on Facebook then by definition he or she is not in the lab or at the blackboard, right?
Scientists also use Twitter, especially to let others know about an academic paper that they like. I wonder if this is harmful or helpful. If lots of people follow the most famous leaders then Twitter simply accelerates the trend toward groupthink? Or maybe this is helpful because there are no so many journals that nobody can cut through the clutter so one should just read what everyone else is reading?
Related:
- Facebook is bad for us
- Why Facebook is so addictive: the Like button
- Facebook uses a Malibu-flying engineering manager to promote careers in engineering (maybe Facebook will use its billions to shift folks from science to engineering?)
Nah… that is like saying that if a scientist watches TV or goes to Starbucks he’s not in the lab and iyt slows down science. The fact is that, if someone is truly dedicated, or merely duly diligent, his work gets done regardless of whether he makes forays into extraneous activities. If he is not, he work is GARBAGE anyway and it doesn’t matter if he does not shit post on Facebook or Twitter.
In the old days, textbooks were considered obsolete, research papers were the most current the public could be, & being physically in the lab was the most current knowledge possible. Nowadays, we are all immediately informed of what happens in the lab & research papers are obsolete, but we’re a bit distracted by those @real feeds. So create a new currency & we’ll never have bailouts or hyperinflation again, but we’ll probably just live beyond our means & print our way out anyway.
Dwight: Facebook seems like more of an energy-consumer and time-waster than TV. A lot of TV-watching is relaxation and/or enjoying artistic expression. Using Facebook is more like a job, no?
Philip,
Newton spent only two years developing the calculus and another two years on “Optiks.” The rest of the time he went to Starbucks <– scratch that… the rest of the time he spent on theology and alchemy. (His colleagues were so embarassed by the latter pursuits that his library in lots at an auction after he died. It wasn't even kept intact.)