Chapter 1 Discussion on "Science" 1 My Past Scientific Research

The fundamental significance of scientific research

is the pursuit of truth and exploration into the unknown.

What is science?

For our generation and that of our parents, we typically regard the content written in textbooks as science. Growing up in a scholarly family, I often heard the phrase: "Believe in science."

But the content in textbooks is far too limited!

From age 2 in kindergarten to 32 obtaining doctoral degree, after 30 years of continuous study, I finally become a well-educated researcher and teacher. During my doctoral studies, I delved into Econophysics, a cross-disciplinary field that fascinated me with its numerous new discoveries. However, I struggled to attain "academic recognition" because my research "crossed the boundaries". Even the professor who accepted me had difficulty guiding and evaluating my work. Eventually, to pass my doctoral dissertation, I had to incorporate traditional economic regression analysis models, resulting in what I saw as two contradictory main models in the final paper: the first half pointed out the limitations of classical economic models, while the second half used traditional economic models for prediction and analysis.

After returning to my home country, I found that there were only a few literature reviews on my research direction. Experts in traditional fields either couldn't understand my work, or believed that ordinary institutions couldn't handle such research. After several unsuccessful attempts, the efforts were completely shelved.

This experience deeply impressed upon me the difficulty of gaining recognition for new understandings that haven't been written into textbooks when they first emerge.

However, this led me to see the true significance of being a scholar: if something is already in the textbooks, then what is the point of researching it? It's like how Chinese children are obsessed with cramming for exams. They seem to master the scientific knowledge in textbooks, but this repetitive drilling does not foster creativity. At most, it only slightly boosts their pitiful scores through a method with very low marginal benefits. How can parents expect children who complete their education through repetitive cramming to grow up and "change the world"? Facing reality, seeing their children barely pass the high school entrance exam and then the college entrance exam, many parents' aspirations have shifted from "making a living" to "just getting by" and maintaining good health. Cramming not only extinguishes children's creativity but also destroys their self-confidence, willpower, and self-awareness.

For many researchers, the most "glorious" moments of their lives are based on major achievements during their PhD years. Unfortunately, I didn't lay such a foundation, which is undoubtedly a regret. What does "glory" mean? In academia, the evaluation standard is the number of papers published in core journals. This serves as the basis for project levels, awards, and professional titles. Recently, Elon Musk, in an interview discussing innovation, said that 90% of academic papers are worthless. Seeing this comment, many researchers might sigh: papers that are valuable only to one's "career" but have minimal societal value far exceed this percentage. Ironically, the scarcity of space in core journals has made them "scarce commodities", with a price tag of tens of thousands in the "black market", leading to endless and unspeakable "academic corruption" by clever individuals.

For a period, I felt my six years of doctoral study were in vain. However, through these years and various experiences, I have grown increasingly convinced that there are no wasted books or paths in life! This period has instilled in me a belief in lifelong learning, established a pragmatic attitude, and developed a rigorous scientific research approach. The greatest gift of reading is the ability to think, not knowledge or a degree. With this ability, I have the power to turn the page in my own life.