And more...

Chinmay replies, "Personally, if ego was my primary driving force, I'd try and pick an occupation where I was in charge of a large amount of resources (money, hopefully ;) and 'controlled' a lot of people's future; rather than fiddle with chemicals and machines and data all day."

That is the point then. It all depends on what feeds your ego. Mine isnt fed by controlling resources (or people...thats too easy)... It is by being the first one to figure out something (a secret of nature) or by gaining knowledge that was unknown to humanity before. Hence the motivation.

Of course one can always argue that all jobs require one's ego then, as a lot of people take pride in doing their jobs well. But being scientists is among the very few professions where you can take pride in doing your job well, and also be the ONLY one who can do that job well (your job is shared by only thousands instead of millions....)

And yet I agree, ego cannot be the sole motivation because then you would run out pretty fast.

( The first rule of war,
is figuring what you're fighting for.

If what's at stake is only pride,
I'd pick peace and step aside. )

Motivation again...

On yesterday's post, a fellow graduate student commented - " I would say my motivation for being a 'scientist' is just basic curiosity...... it gives me some sort of fundamental satisfaction when I understand why and how things work - not just related to science, but everything."

You can read more about Chinmay's work here.

He goes on to say "If at all there's any ego behind it, it's not that I myself am personally capable of understanding things, but that human intelligence in general has evolved to be capable of figuring out the universe that generated it."

I agree. There is undoubtedly pride in the fact that human beings as a species have the ability to comprehend nature in all its glory.
But the fact remains, science today as an industry is built on a healthy competition. This competition, unlike in Newtonian times, isn't geared much towards individual glory, as it is towards individual accomplishment. To get ahead, nay, to survive itself as a scientist one needs to be productive in ones output. This productivity is rewarded in multiple ways - by more grants, by better jobs, and yes of course a little recognition.

Now, if indeed, I were for example a multi-millionaire, (or at least didnt have to worry about making a livelihood) I could spend all my time pursuing what stimulated my intellect. Certainly then, ego would have little part (ideally anyway!). But since, I do have to make a living at this, this implies I have to be good at it, and of course this implies being better at the job than a significant number of other scientists. Whether I am or not, is debatable. But if I didn't have the confidence (or ego) to believe I was, then I probably wouldn't be doing this.

Hmmnn...

I got asked recently where I get motivation for doing research from. Of course, I was being jested with (or being poked fun at, i'm not sure which) but that got me thinking.

Does one really need motivation for doing research?

Of course, I think the person asking me didn't realise what research is about. Perhaps the idea they had was influenced by their profession. I talked to Shraddha, and perhaps, just perhaps people might have the misconception that what I do is what newspaper reporters do before they write a story....
Of course, that is also research.. like when people say I'm researching a news story, or I'm researching a vacation destination. But comparing that to what I do is like comparing making a sandwich with a cheese slice in between to making a seven-course meal for 10 people by oneself.

I might sound snobbish, but research in science is certainly an extremely taxing endeavor. There is no glory for most scientists, no real money to be made, and one has to watch idiots like fashion designers being role models for people.

Then what does motivate people to become scientists?

Here's a shot at the answer: Part of it stems from ego. Believing that you are smart enough to try and understand nature and the working of the world around you, believing that you have the ability to get through the nitty-gritty, the rigour, to get to a final answer at the end.
Part of it is undoubtedly, the need to find answers. Anyone who has seen more than a few episodes of The X-files, will understand this. Why does a proton weigh more than an electron? How did the eye evolve? Where does this all end?

One can always say "who cares" and move on... the world will not stop being.

But by nature, man is curious. If you settle a village in valley surrounded by mountains, eventually someone will come along and wonder what lies behind these mountains. That is the biggest motivation.

Personally, its like Albert Einstein threw down a challenge. He said, "I want to know how God created this world. ... I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details."

Well I want to know His thoughts too.

Shameless advertising.....

Well this orkut thing is pretty great. I know, I know.. aside from the whole insane scrapping thing and every little thought being put out there - its really easy to find people. And nothing beats that feeling of finding and catching up with someone you once knew.
Just today I found someone from my college who joined the Indian Army and I kind of lost touch. Now of course, there is the other type as well - people I hardly knew, and didn't care to much then, will also be able to find me. But so far, I havent really had any such people :)

Now if we really think about it, google has been getting a lot of information about a lot of people worldwide. They already keep some data on the searches you do on google itself. But with other services like orkut, blogger etc. they really know a lot about you. If you've read Asimov, this sounds eerily like the beginning of Multivac - an all knowing computer/network/sentient being that knows all about you.

Google, has been fighting a case against US govt. about releasing some search information. The case is about paedophiles - lovers of the young (yech!). But I honestly dont believe the government has any right to examine what you search for the internet. Its like the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report, where cops get you if you think of committing a crime. Unless and until you actually commit a crime, you cannot be punished.

Of course, the bottomline is this. We live in a society where we have incredible benefits. We are more connected as a community than ever before. For example, I can live in Chicago away from all my friends for years and yet when we meet, there will be no feeling of separation. However, the cost of all this connectivity, only time will tell. (or multivac.....)

Salman.. Salman... (sigh..)

He has really let himself go. Once touted as among the ten sexiest men on Earth, controversies and an incredibly poor sense of fashion, have left Salman but a whisper of his old self.

An obsession for excellence

"From his 95 at Lord's to the 95 at Mohali, Rahul Dravid has been the constant companion of India's fortunes."

Rahul Dravid will complete 100 Tests with the Mumbai match against England. A couple of nice articles on Rediff.

Article 1

Article 2

WTF?

Australia 434 SA 438!!!

What on Earth is going on? I can buy the fact that Ricky Ponting had a good day and made a classic century, but Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith also had a great day. Jeez, I think that pitch was the worst one-day pitch ever. This was more like a galli-game at our school ground!!

Red Rain?

Interesting article. I never heard of this when it happened. What the hell was the media doing then?

I can actually buy the comet going past and causing red rain theory. I just wonder how localized the rainfall was.

Pres. Kalam meets Pier Oddone

A delegation from Fermilab is in India for a couple of conferences and for discussions on the ILC. Seen in the picture, the delegation called on President Kalam. The director of Fermilab, Pier Oddone, is to the right to Pres. Kalam.

Blessed!!

25 and half years on a learning curve,

4 years of graduate schooling in high energy experimental physics

1 year of intense research

3 months of iterative (and exhausting) examination by colleagues

1 half-hour talk requesting blessing

Blessed!!

I now have permission to share my results with the outside world. Expect more over the next few weeks ....