"Alzheimer's" Research, "Alzheimer's" Gadfly – Part 3

Part 1, Part 2  
 
 Science progresses by combining competition and cooperation, which I argued in an obscure paper published many years ago.

Competition without cooperation leads to limited isolated success. Progress does not come by forcing acceptance of one idea over another.

Cooperation without competing ideas can lead to the stagnation of groupthink. Progress does not come when ideas are not challenged.

Competition can provide a wealth of ideas. Cooperation can put them together creatively. The old story of persons encountering a stuffed elephant in a dark room illustrates this nicely.

One of the persons touches a leg and says that it's a tree. Let's call this person Tree. Another person touches the side and says that it's a wall. Let's call this person Wall.

A third person touches the trunk and says it's a snake. Let's call this person Snake. A fourth person touches the tail and says that it's a rope. Let's call this person Rope.

This chaos of competing views is often used as a description of science where we always have limited information. A school of thought actually argues that Rope, Snake, Tree, and Wall just fight it out to see which of the competing views prevails, making science just like any other battleground – like base ideological battles where people will do anything to win.

But, here's the payoff . . . . .      Next time.

Contributed by Don Moyer, physicist, historian, teacher, patent agent, advocate, gadfly.