\documentclass[letterpaper]{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[space]{grffile}
\usepackage{latexsym}
\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{tabulary}
\usepackage{booktabs,array,multirow}
\usepackage{amsfonts,amsmath,amssymb}
\usepackage{natbib}
\usepackage{url}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\hypersetup{colorlinks=false,pdfborder={0 0 0}}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
\patchcmd\@combinedblfloats{\box\@outputbox}{\unvbox\@outputbox}{}{%
  \errmessage{\noexpand\@combinedblfloats could not be patched}%
}%
\makeatother
% You can conditionalize code for latexml or normal latex using this.
\newif\iflatexml\latexmlfalse
\providecommand{\tightlist}{\setlength{\itemsep}{0pt}\setlength{\parskip}{0pt}}%

\AtBeginDocument{\DeclareGraphicsExtensions{.pdf,.PDF,.eps,.EPS,.png,.PNG,.tif,.TIF,.jpg,.JPG,.jpeg,.JPEG}}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}

\usepackage{aaai}
\usepackage{times}
\usepackage{helvet}
\usepackage{courier}
\usepackage{times}



\frenchspacing
\setlength{\pdfpagewidth}{8.5in}
\setlength{\pdfpageheight}{11in}
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{0}
\begin{document}
% The file aaai.sty is the style file for AAAI Press
% proceedings, working notes, and technical reports.
%

\title{All great truths begin as blasphemies:~In Defense of ``Silly'' Research}

\author{Josh Nicholson\\ Authorea }


\maketitle




\subsection*{\texorpdfstring{\emph{``Research is intended to solve life's
mysteries.''}}{Research is intended to solve life's mysteries.}}\label{research-is-intended-to-solve-lifes-mysteries.}

This statement may suggest that research is a serious business, and it
generally is, but many discoveries researchers make are somewhat silly.
~Research like "\textbf{Pressures produced when penguins
pooh---calculations on avian defaecation}" (\hyperref[csl:1]{(Meyer-Rochow and Gal 2003)}) or the
\href{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY4AEubKFh0}{``Shrimp Fight
Club''} actually entitled "\textbf{Contests with deadly weapons: telson
sparring in mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda)}" (\hyperref[csl:2]{(Green and Patek 2015)}). ~ Such
research has come under attack from many in congress, calling it
"\textbf{\emph{wasteful.}}" ~In fact, Senator Jeff Flake assembled what
he calls a
\href{http://www.flake.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/03714fa3-e01d-46a1-9c19-299533056741/wastebook---the-farce-awakens.pdf}{``wastebook''}
mocking the work of researchers he deemed to be a waste of time and
money.

\par\null\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{figure}[h!]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.84\columnwidth]{figures/wastebook---the-farce-awakens/wastebook---the-farce-awakens}
\caption{{\hypertarget{auto-label-caption-738873}{}
Yes, this is the actual document\ldots{} ~ ~ ~~%
}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}

\par\null

While some research may be silly or even wasteful, it is very difficult
to predict what that research is in advance by scientists, let alone
politicians. ~Indeed, the history of science shows us that many research
proposals initially deemed silly, proved to be immensely important to
our understanding of the world, as well as for financial gains.

\par\null

Congresswoman~Eddie Bernice Johnson highlights a few such cases:

\par\null

\begin{quote}
In 1955, the U.S. Department of Agriculture funded a study named, ``The
Sex Life of the Screwworm.`' This grant was mocked on the Senate floor
as an example of government waste, and instigated the creation of a
``Golden Fleece Award.'' Screwworms feed on living tissue, often killing
the host, and were a huge menace in the cattle industry. The initial
grant was for \$250,000. The outcome of that grant saved the cattle
industry \$20 billion in the U.S. alone, resulting in a 5 percent
reduction in the price of beef. The Senator who mocked the grant later
apologized.

\par\null

In the early 1960's NSF and NIH funded a marine biologist to study why
jellyfish glow green, a topic that would surely have caught the
attention of our Majority as being ``unworthy'' of federal funding. When
this biologist, who was just following his scientific curiosity,
isolated the green fluorescent protein from jellyfish in 1962, neither
he nor his funders had any idea that his work would one day lead to
advances in genetics, cell biology, developmental biology, and
neurobiology, to a better understanding of cancer, brain diseases such
as Alzheimer's, and other human diseases, and methods used widely by the
pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. In 2008, this work won a
Nobel Prize.

\par\null

In 2006, NSF funded a \$147,000 study named, ``Accuracy in the
Cross-Cultural Understanding of Others' Emotions.'' In 2007, this grant
was mocked on the House Floor as an example of government waste. In
notable contrast, the Department of Defense and the Department of
Homeland Security were both keenly interested in this research because
of its application to soldiers operating among potentially hostile
foreign populations, and to Transportation Security agents trying to
detect any potential terrorists among travelers coming from all over the
world. The scientist behind this work has been invited to speak to
officials at both agencies many times.
\end{quote}

Research funding is a complex issue that is consistently a point of
contention amongst scientists and the government. ~Calls for more new
methods of review (\hyperref[csl:3]{(Ioannidis 2011)}) to campaigns humanizing
scientists
(\href{http://www.ascb.org/show-congress-face-biomedical-research-face/}{\#WeAreResearch})
have sought to increase the funding pool and to improve how it is
disbursed. ~Since much of the work is taxpayer funded senators have
demanded that work be in the interest of the nation. ~\textbf{\emph{Can
``silly work'' be in the interest of the nation?}}

\par\null

Maybe not, but maybe so. ~It is the chance that it could that must be
defended. ~Basic research needs freedom to ask questions for better
understanding, not for better bottom lines. ~The internet grew out of
scientists trying to share work amongst each other. Treatment for
premature babies, termed ``preemies,'' was fostered into the United
States through
\href{http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/coney-island-sideshow-advanced-medicine-premature-babies/}{a
sideshow on Coney Island}. Washing your hands before surgery with a
disinfectant was ridiculed, landing Ignaz Semmelweiss out of a job and
in an
\href{http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/01/12/375663920/the-doctor-who-championed-hand-washing-and-saved-women-s-lives}{insane
asylum}.

\par\null

In hindsight, it is easy to say how foolish we were to
\href{https://www.authorea.com/users/8850/articles/117724/_show_article}{reject
these breakthrough ideas}. ~Arguably, not all the ideas scoffed at by
Flake and others will turn out to be revolutionary, but freedom to
explore ideas with curiosity and imagination as the only constraint is
\emph{necessary for science to progress. ~}

\par\null

We welcome research from the outsiders, from students, from basic
scientists, from political scientists, from citizen scientists. Write
your next ``silly'' manuscript on
\href{http://www.authorea.com}{Authorea}.

\par\null\par\null

\par\null\par\null\par\null\par\null

\par\null

\selectlanguage{english}
\FloatBarrier
\section*{References}\sloppy
\phantomsection
\label{csl:0}(2012) {AOP}. Nature. \url{https://doi.org/10.1038/492034a}

\phantomsection
\label{csl:0}Campanario JM (2009) {Rejecting and resisting Nobel class discoveries: accounts by Nobel Laureates}. Scientometrics 81:549–565. \url{https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-008-2141-5}

\phantomsection
\label{csl:2}Green PA, Patek SN (2015) {Contests with deadly weapons: telson sparring in mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda)}. Biol Lett 11:20150558. \url{https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0558}

\phantomsection
\label{csl:3}Ioannidis JPA (2011) {More time for research: Fund people not projects}. Nature 477:529–531. \url{https://doi.org/10.1038/477529a}

\phantomsection
\label{csl:1}Meyer-Rochow VB, Gal J (2003) {Pressures produced when penguins pooh?calculations on avian defaecation}. Polar Biology 27:56–58. \url{https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-003-0563-3}

\phantomsection
\label{csl:0}Nicholson JM, Ioannidis JP (2012) {Conform and be funded}. Nature 492:34–36

\phantomsection
\label{csl:0}Nicholson JM, Ioannidis JP (2012) {Conform and be funded}. Nature 492:34–36

\end{CJK}\end{document}

