NeoAcademia is a biweekly exploration of the shifting walls of the ivory tower.
I found Roger’s Bacon a week ago and was so excited to have him on, I rushed this episode out. We talked about the notion of publishing ::GASP:: SPECULATIVE SCIENCE! I know this sounds sacrosanct, but I assure you it is not. This is such an exciting episode for me because last episode Todd Kashdan called for more people to be brave enough to speculate and form hypotheses from existing data… Well, in this episode we answered his call with a strategy for how to do that. There are three ways you can help play with ideas and formulate new hypotheses:
If you have an idea, DEFINITELY submit it to SOS - Or me! I’ll help you till your soil into shape. The only rule is: does the article contain original ideas that have the potential to advance science in any way?
If you want to be a reviewer, also called a gardener, you can read submissions and help with peer review. No credentials needed.
If you follow someone who is writing awesome shit, tell them about SOS, or tell me, and I’ll reach out.
Then riddle me this: What’s one idea you could write about right now if you had the time and incentive to do so?
Show Notes
1:48 Seeds’ of Science Niche: The Journal of Brief Ideas
3:34 Roger’s Bacon, founder of Seeds of Science career trajectory
6:40 Dr. Krpan’s Disconnected Psychology embedded in academia
9:41 The Niche where Seeds of Science can grow
15:12 Gatekeeping in academia Entrenched academics and authority is this contention good for democracy?
18:18 Making a scientific Zine - emulating the original British and French societies
23:16 If Seeds of Science can be exploited, it could take off
26:31 How we could build career infrastructure for creative thinkers
28:38 A Beacon/star codex for intellectuals
31:24 The type of scientists the academic system does and doesn’t produce cut-throat
37:10 The benefits of aimlessness, and longer, more nebulous goals
41:16 Incentivizing ideas with dialogue, investment, and a paper trail to carve out a model for a NeoAcademic
46:21 Calling all creative thinkers. Be a gardener and sow Seeds of Science!
For more resources from this episode, check out the collection Todd and I created for you. Use the password “neoacademia” for access.
Readocracy is NeoAcademia’s first sponsor, and I highly encourage you to sign up for an account. I have been using it daily for years now, and I even include some of my personal metrics in my monthly Rabbithole newsletter for my paid subscribers. It’s a fun way of reflecting on what you consume, and potentially building your expertise as a NeoAcademic.
To receive Behind The Scenes bonus footage of NeoAcademia and more, you know what to do…
Thought experiment:
What’s one idea you could write about right now if you had the time and incentive to do so?
NeoAcademia Episode 4 : Roger's Bacon on Publishing the Seeds of Science