Set Them Free
In the 19th century, Charles Darwin was just one of many independent researchers who, not reliant on grants or constrained by the conservative pressures of anonymous peer review, did stunningly original work. That kind of freedom and independence has become almost non-existent. These days, the kinds of research that can happen are determined by science funding committees, not the human imagination. What is more, the power in those committees is increasingly concentrated in the hands of politically adept older scientists, government officials and representatives of big business . Young graduates on short-term contracts constitute a growing scientific underclass. In the US, the proportion of biomedical grants awarded to investigators under 35 plummeted from 23 per cent in 1980 to 4 per cent today.
This is bad news. As science becomes more and more about climbing corporate career ladders, and less and less about soaring journeys of the mind, so the public's distrust of scientists and their work seems to grow. When allegations surfaced in a British newspaper earlier this year claiming that the food industry had "infiltrated" scientists into the World Health Organization in order to influence polices on processed foods, the WHO swiftly rejected the charge. But in the present climate of distrust, the analysis of the American public health academic whose leaked internal report to the WHO sparked the story will have rung true to many: "The easy movement of experts between private firms, universities, tobacco and food industries, and international agencies creates the conditions for conflict of interest."
Rupert Sheldrake
