Sir
Towards the end of your interview with Daedalus, he points out that even Sir Peter Medawar felt that 80% of his research activity had been completely wasted, and that this is a typical record (Nature 390, 126–127; 1997). Perhaps his main point was that a 20%-efficient activity shouldn't be taken too seriously. But can Daedalus suggest an entropy-defying device by which I can determine which of my activities belong in the 80% ‘fruitless’ category — and trade those for exploring not-so-serious, unconventional ‘mad’ experiments?
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Mao, B. ‘Mad’ science wanted. Nature 391, 738 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/35734
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35734
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