Should we move to a system where every scientist gives grant money away?

Re:Should we move to a system where every scientist gives gr... by cs702 on Sunday April 16, 2017 @10:59AM (#14126024)

This proposal is a simple, appealing way of solving the problem, but I doubt it would work well over time, because, like all efforts to control human behavior via a simple set of rules, it will end up being gamed by human beings.

Campbell's Law: "The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor."[0]

Ultimately, I believe, we'll need human moderators to (1) detect and prevent abuse of the rules, and (2) modify the rules when they stop working.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell%27s_law

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Re:Should we move to a system where every scientist gives gr... by name_for_now on Sunday April 16, 2017 @11:59AM (#14126214)

Indeed. Especially in such a simple scheme, e.g. if they find people aren't giving away enough money and try to incentivize it, people will just form cycles. If you start doing triangle-detection on the graph (as a stand-in for some arbitrary regulatory measure), they'll just make longer ones.

And beyond pure greed and the political aspect, there are professors that also have pointless grudges.

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Re:Should we move to a system where every scientist gives gr... by ianai on Sunday April 16, 2017 @11:07AM (#14126043)

I wonder if there's not a way to make it more like a library type system. Ie a central pool of durable resources.

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Re:Should we move to a system where every scientist gives gr... by ams6110 on Sunday April 16, 2017 @11:42AM (#14126151)

I think it would have all the problems of lending money to or going into business with family or friends.

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