Have you read an article that said “Scientists need to share their mistakes”. If you haven’t here are two with almost similar titles
How many scientists do you know who share their mistakes? Science talks are almost always about the exciting new data that proved a revolutionary new idea opening an unexplored avenue that saved the world. The only publicly accepted showcasing of failures is CryptoFail. A cryptography conference celebrating failure. What are all the other disciplines doing?
“Scientists need to share their mistakes”. I have heard this so many times. I hear this when a paper gets retracted because the data was too good. I hear this when two stubborn scientists refuse to accommodate their opposing viewpoints and instead chose to double down on what they believe in. I hear this when …. (think of something else). I hear this when undergrads, gradstudents or even post docs mumble through a presentation because they are scared that they don’t have good data to show. But “Scientists need to share their mistakes”.
When we say that scientists need to share their mistakes and list out reasons for why it is a good idea, I think we often don’t include why scientists don’t want to share their mistakes.
When we do assignments or research projects, only good answers are accepted. Bad answers are rejected. Writing about mistakes is hard. I am struggling at this very moment. It is painful to try and remember failures, when the whole idea of doing “good” science rests on getting positive results. I feel like a failure and I feel like I am wasting my time right now by trying to write this blog.
But failures should be normal. The first time I tried to change a tyre in my father’s car I punctured the spare itself. I failed to change a tyre, but I have never considered that as a seminal failure of my life. However for some reason every single mistake I have made in my scientific career stands out like a red stain in my conscience. Too many red stain, too many red lettered days, too many failure.
This blog is born from that frustration. I have decided to document my own failures in science and what I did or did not learn from it. I will also interview and feature stories of other scientists. In the process of doing so, I hope that not only will I be able to process my own shortcomings I can help channel a discussion on talking openly about failures.
One rule I will try to follow is that whenever I talk about a failed endevaour I will try to provide as much detail as possible on why that failed. What could have been done to change that? Was that project doomed from the get-go? These will be my guiding principles in my documentation of failure. I will probably change these principles as this matures more.
My first failure story will be about a summer project I did back in my undergrad.
Comments