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The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge

Abraham Flexner was one of the founders of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies. The other day I came across a wonderful essay, titled “The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge” (PDF) that he wrote in 1939, on the relevance of curiosity-driven basic research:
Flexner goes through historic examples in which progress came about by scientists not thinking about applications but driven to understand nature, which resulted in unforeseen breakthroughs that changed our lives. Needless to say, his examples (Maxwell's equations, Bose-Einstein Condensation, atom spectroscopy...) could not take into account the most stunning developments in the later part of the century, based on our increasingly better understanding of quantum mechanics that underlies pretty much all the little technological gadgets we put under the tree.But despite his essay being 70 years old, the points are as timely today as they were then, and they have only grown more pressing: Without basic research, progress is not sustainable and applications will eventually run dry. Believing that applied research produces technological advances is like saying electricity comes from the holes in your outlet.

Flexner was also ahead of his time in clearly realizing that science is a community enterprise, driven by social dynamics and the interaction of experts, and not by single individuals working on their own:
    “Much more am I pleading for the abolition of the word "use," and for the freeing of the human spirit. To be sure, we shall thus free some harmless cranks. To be sure, we shall thus waste some precious dollars. But what is infinitely more important is that we shall be striking the shackles off the human mind and setting it free...”
    “[O]ne must be wary in attributing scientific discovery wholly to anyone person. Almost every discovery has a long and precarious history. Someone finds a bit here, another a bit there. A third step succeeds later and thus onward till a genius pieces the bits together and makes the decisive contribution. Science, like the Mississippi, begins in a tiny rivulet in the distant forest. Gradually other streams swell its volume. And the roaring river that bursts the dikes is formed from countless sources.”
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