David Warren at the Ottawa Citizen has written an excellent essay entitled Butterflies.
Warren's calm and measured thinking concludes that what's wrong with scientific research today is that it is done collectively by committee.
Last two paragraphs:
As Nabokov continues, "I discovered in nature the nonutilitarian delights that I sought in art. Both were a form of magic, both were a game of intricate enchantment and deception."
This is the world that Darwinian drudges are incapable of appreciating. It is also the explanation of why significant scientific advances are made, invariably, by eccentric, artistic, and religious people, acting alone, and never by richly-funded committees.
I would take it further and opine that the emphasis on collectivism is the cause of almost all the ills in today's society.
3 comments:
I think you are giving ego very short shrift.
Skipper, do you mean that those who work alone are egotists?
I mean that in looking to collectivism as the cause of almost all social ills leaves out egoism.
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