The book itself is beautiful and reminiscent of old, collectible scientific volumes. High quality. It is high signal and low noise. You can read it in a weekend and learn something new.
The author, Donald Braben, ran "Venture Research" at BP for a decade. Venture Research is deliberately investing in avenues of investigation that sound slightly fringe but, if true, will fundamentally change our understanding of the universe.
The fruits of Braben's work are impressive and cost BP only about $40 million over a decade.
But BP's Venture Research harvest is only a small piece of Braben's argument. He fears for the future of scientific progress in general, which he argues has stalled. Interestingly, he dates the decline of fundamental scientific discovery to the early 1970's, which coincides with other observers (Tyler Cowen's Great Stagnation, wtfhappenedin1971.com/)
It seems hard to believe that the digital age does not represent new scientific discovery. But Braben's point is that much of digital technology elaborates on discoveries from before 1971 (semiconductors, ARPA Net). We have better engineering now, but not more fundamental understanding.
Braben argues that the bureaucratization of research and peer review are to blame. No longer do researchers enjoy the free-wheeling days of "here's some money, go give it a try" that allowed luminaries like Vannevar Bush and JCR Licklider to finance the pioneers of computing.
Today, research must align with top-down "national goals", must adhere to a prescribed timeline, and justify itself with a practical use case. In effect, funding agencies and government hope to "plan" the anarchic process of fundamental discovery.
Braben is no fan of peer review and believes it's a grave mistake to treat it as the gold standard for evaluating research proposals. Fundamental discoveries are almost always seen as crazy, fringe ideas at first.
So If we rely on "peers" to evaluate these avenues of research, we risk a stifling orthodoxy on the ideas that receive funds. Plus, all the compliance measures waste the time of researchers who should be focused on science.
"One does not even know which haystack hides the needle. It's been forgotten that we did not need special arrangements for finding the Einsteins in the past. There was enough flexibility in the system to allow them to emerge, but that's been removed in the quest for efficiency", says Braben.
To be clear, the results of Venture Research are peer reviewed for accuracy, but the proposals are not. Venture Research also proposes no timeline or milestones. Money is not particularly conditional on any outcome.
Venture Research cultivates an informal, horizontal, high-trust and low-supervision environment of loose collaboration. The goal of Venture Research is to mint a new generation of pioneer-scientists, which Braben calls the "Planck Club."
For Braben, the stakes are high: "My conjecture is that at the highest social levels creativity provides the vital feedback that keeps societies and civilizations healthy." A lack of creativity prevents civilization from adapting to new challenges.
This makes civilization more and more fragile — pushing it into the darkly-named "Damocles Zone", where a single major stressor could cause a decline and fall.
A wonderful and inspiring book that speaks to the adventure of scientific discovery and the creative powers of a free civilization.
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From the Publisher
From the introduction to the new edition
Since the Industrial Revolution, and especially since the beginning of the twentieth century, the idea of the inevitability of scientific progress has been powerful. Scientists could be relied upon to provide a steady trickle of unexpected major discoveries that would transform lives for the better. However, the past few decades have seen a major change. Nowadays, the funding of academic research is controlled by the consensus of experts, and peer review is by far the most common process for reaching consensus. The progress of science, therefore, depends on the support that researchers can find.
Both inspiring and provocative
“A superb book, both inspiring and provocative. Braben strives to ensure the most creative scientists, if completely free to pursue unorthodox research, will aim to attain the ‘elixir of civilization.’”
––Dudley Herschbach, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1986
An exciting and compelling agenda to fund science
“What is the recipe for scientific progress? Don Braben makes persuasive arguments that true innovation relies on freedom to innovate through the support of outstanding individuals. . . . He critiques existing science funding mechanisms as stultifying and proposes an exciting and compelling agenda to fund science.”
––Sir Steve Sparks, Vetlesen Prize 2015
All scientists, granting agencies, and policy-makers should read this book
“Scientific Freedom deals with an issue of great relevance to the world we live in: How should we ensure that scientific research is enabled to make the breakthroughs that have characterized the last 100 years of science? All scientists, granting agencies, and policy-makers should read this refreshing book and respond to the need to change current funding paradigms.”
––Sir Richard J. Roberts, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 1993
A book of revelations and revolutions
“Scientific Freedom is an important book: beautifully written, brimming with scholarship, and lightly spiced with Liverpudlian wit. . . . [It] is a book of revelations and revolutions. Scientific freedom is needed now as never before.”
––Nigel R. Franks, University of Bristol
About the author
Donald W. Braben is a scientist and author. From 1980 to 1990, he led British Petroleum’s Venture Research program, for which he developed a radical, low-cost approach to finding and funding researchers whose work might redefine their fields. Of the dozens of projects supported by the program, many led to transformative discoveries. He has held positions at the Cabinet Office in Whitehall, the Science Research Council in London, and the Bank of England. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, and the First Trust Bank Chair of Innovation at Queen’s University Belfast. He currently holds an honorary position at University College London.
About the publisher
Stripe Press publishes ideas for progress in science, technology, and economics. Our collection includes new ideas from emerging and established thinkers and industry leaders, as well as reimagined editions of enduring works. We curate our titles for a global audience of builders and practitioners who are shaping the future of policy and industry.
Stripe Press is based in South San Francisco, with team members across the US and in London. We are a part of the global payments infrastructure company Stripe.
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About the author
