91 All scientific
discoveries should be shared among other scientists.
Over the past few decades, more and more scientific
research and discoveries have enhanced our lives. So, it’s been argued whether
all scientific discoveries should be shared among other scientists. Some people
might think that scientists should not share their own discoveries and data
with other scientists because it will discourage scientists from working hard to
be credited for their work, while others might disagree with such a statement.
However, I am deeply convinced that all scientific discoveries should be shared
among other scientists. Actually, I have a couple of reasons to state my
opinion and will explain and develop them in the next following paragraphs
below.
First and foremost, sharing scientific data
allows scientific research progress to speed up. For instance, when scientists
have a goal to find a cure of a disease, their research progress will take a
lot of time if they keep good discoveries only to themselves. On the other hand, if
scientists share every small discovery among themselves, they will be able to
speed up their research process and make faster results. Some people might say that
many scientists will be discouraged from passionately making any scientific
discoveries because they won’t be completely credited for their data once they
share it with others. However, this is not true because scientists will no
longer struggle intensely or devote many years of their lives to making important
scientific discoveries if scientific data is freely shared with one another.
To give an example of this, in the past, the invention of the Internet was
meant for scientists. Scientists wanted to share their data safely with one
another, so they made a space where they could share it with one another
regardless of time or place. At the time, the Internet supported scientists to
make fast
discoveries faster and make quickened results. They no longer had to devote so
many years of their lives on a single project. However, the complete opposite
situation is happening nowadays. As the competition among scientists is more
rigorous, scientists hide away their findings and data so that they’ll be
credited for them in the far future. This happening is slowing down urgent
discoveries, such as cure for fatal diseases and environmental problems. Many
scientists have stated that they’ll be more motivated to work harder if other
scientists share
their project results with them. So, it is reasonable to think that scientific
discoveries must be shared among scientists.
Moreover, sharing scientific research enables
scientists to efficiently use their money and effort. Scientists oftentimes
invest money on two of the same research projects by accident because of the lack
of reporting and sharing of data. This is commonly known as ‘Duplication’.
Duplication can lead to wasting huge amounts of money and effort and even plagiarism
later on. Though some people might say duplication sometimes confirms results,
a large amount of money and effort might become invested on unnecessary
research projects. To give an example of this, in recent years, two
organizations invested a huge amount of money on researching brain functions of
monkeys and dolphins. However, after a long period of researching and
experimenting, the two organizations had the same research results but kept each of them in secret from each other. After a few months, they published a journal about
their research results, but both of them wrote the same kind journal. This was not only
indicated as plagiarism but also a waste of money and effort for a long time.
So, in order to avoid these situations and efficiently discover science, it is
best to share scientific research with one another.