I don't think people realize how antithetical #science is to the very concept of #competition. You know how your parents were always telling you to be a good sport and congratulate the other team? Fuck that. You're a scientist. You don't want to win. You could lose completely and utterly, and you would still be victorious, because the experiment is to see who would win.
That's not to say you want to lose either. If you let the other side win in a contest, you've just spoiled your own experiment, and you'll never know who would win, if both sides were trying. So you still have to fight as fiercely as the most victory fixated competitor, otherwise the experiment would be ruined. But if you fight true, and give it your all, then one of two things happens:
You win. The experiment is successful.
You lose. The experiment is successful!
There is no way to be unvictorious as a scientist. The experiment is what matters, not our petty ego contests. And that is one of science's greatest strengths. This isn't a game, or a competition. It's life, existence and truth, and your entire measure of victory is how well you live. How true you stay to your grand experiment.
Add comment