Democracy, Praxis, Research

A space to explore the role of basic science in society.

The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge

By Abraham Flexner, 1939

This text highlights a model of scientific organization based on absolute freedom, absence of bureaucratic constraints, and elimination of rigid hierarchies. The Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton illustrates how a minimalist framework—without committees, formal meetings, or imposed obligations—allows researchers to fully cultivate their thinking and creativity. By valuing trust, free time, and informal interaction, this institute fosters intellectual flourishing and the generation of innovative ideas, thus contributing to scientific progress in all its diversity.

Any Attempt to Manage Academia Only Makes Things Worse

By Mike Taylor, 2017

Attempts to control academic research through quantitative indicators—number of publications, impact factors, calls for proposals—have perverse effects: they push researchers to prioritize quantity over quality, fragment their work, and follow trends rather than innovate. This bureaucratic system ultimately stifles creativity and true scientific progress. The solution, simple yet radical, would be to “hire good researchers, pay them properly, and tell them to do their work as best as possible”, granting them trust and freedom instead of locking them into rigid procedures.

The Mark Gable Foundation: A Prophetic Critique of the Current Scientific Funding System

By Leo Szilard, 1948

This text ironically and presciently illustrates how a bureaucratic scientific funding system—relying on review committees, calls for proposals, and the selection of ‘trendy’ topics—can actually hinder innovation. By removing the best researchers from their labs to turn them into evaluators, and by encouraging research on safe and consensual themes, this model stifles creativity, scientific freedom, and ultimately true progress. A warning that remains urgently relevant.

What is the Purpose of Fundamental Science?

By Christopher Llewellyn Smith, Director-General of CERN from 1994 to 1998

A text that emphasizes the crucial importance of fundamental science, driven by human curiosity and the quest for knowledge, which nourishes both culture and economic progress. It warns against the current tendency to prioritize applied research focused on immediate benefits, at the risk of stifling major and unforeseen discoveries that only free research can generate.