Chapter 1: Embracing the Scientist Mindset

In my transition back to industry after years in academia, I continue to identify as a pragmatic scientist.

The essence of the 'scientist mindset' revolves around addressing practical, everyday challenges. It hinges on the understanding that scientific reasoning is fundamentally accessible. This simplicity empowers us all, irrespective of our backgrounds, to consider ourselves primarily as scientists. Our choices, interactions, and initiatives should fundamentally reflect scientific principles. This approach ought to extend to our public policies and societal structures as well.

This philosophy should be applied to any endeavor that is not immediately obvious but holds significant value. Science is inherently practical, and practicality embodies scientific inquiry.

Chapter 2: The Power of Collective Intelligence

My contributions from my academic tenure — including the "Theory of Enablers," the FRACTI framework for large-scale scientific collaboration, the SIGMA financial language, and the open-source financial platform QuantLET — were all driven by this vision. I firmly believe that when facing complexity, we are more effective as a united force: a crowd of scientists. This crowd should be open, transparent, interconnected, and collaborative.

Institutionalized science has lost its effectiveness; we must embrace the era of scientific crowds. The recent pandemic serves as a stark reminder that our reluctance to reform science translates into real-world consequences, including loss of lives. When I speak of 'fixing science,' I am not critiquing the scientific method itself, which remains sound. Rather, I am addressing the detrimental incentives that promote poor scientific practices. Those within the scientific community understand this issue well.

The pressing challenges we face — such as climate change, mass migrations, water scarcity, social and educational disparities, technological upheaval, and recurring pandemics — are daunting. These issues pose even greater threats and their resolution will rely heavily on educated individuals and robust scientific methodologies.

We must unite in our efforts. As humans, but primarily as scientists.

The first video titled "The Broken Science Initiative: Let's start with the truth" discusses the urgent need for reform within the scientific community, emphasizing transparency and collaboration.

The second video, "The Problem with the 'Yay Science!' Crowd," critiques the superficial support for science and calls for a deeper, more critical engagement with scientific practices.

Originally published at http://jfaleiro.wordpress.com on June 10, 2020.