Read on Twitter
Alright, the time is right for a little bit of 
I've been sitting with this thing for too long, time to spit it out, despite my resistance due to shyness or something.
There is a varied bubble of people here on Twitter that gives me small joys and earns my gratitude daily.
1/n
I've been sitting with this thing for too long, time to spit it out, despite my resistance due to shyness or something.
There is a varied bubble of people here on Twitter that gives me small joys and earns my gratitude daily.
1/n
The key reason is that, had I been exposed to their work and thinking at the right time (some 20 years ago!), I know for sure that my whole life would have taken an entirely different direction.
[Aside: this doesn't mean I'm not happy with what actually happened!]
2/n
[Aside: this doesn't mean I'm not happy with what actually happened!]
2/n
As a young PGR student, with an interest in mol. biol., neuroscience, cognition and psychology, I could not find anything that connected the research that I saw happening with my questions, interests and aspirations.
All I saw was a race to publishing, for publishing's sake.
3/n
All I saw was a race to publishing, for publishing's sake.
3/n
The thinking needed to actually start answering the questions I had was not on offer; not on the buffet I was presented with, at least.
Instead, I had a bag of "everybody does it" tricks, many of which of clearly questionable rigour*...
*That's an understatement.
4/n
Instead, I had a bag of "everybody does it" tricks, many of which of clearly questionable rigour*...
*That's an understatement.
4/n
The whole "meal" included a plenty of expectations:
Young scientists should be driven by the sacred flame of "Science"...
Work always, be there whenever an ongoing experiment requires it, read papers in the dead times, memorise author's names, learn to criticise, *compete*!
5/n
Young scientists should be driven by the sacred flame of "Science"...
Work always, be there whenever an ongoing experiment requires it, read papers in the dead times, memorise author's names, learn to criticise, *compete*!
5/n
Ideas like having a life, reading outside the narrow confines of your own field, or, god forbid, question the validity of the questionable practices and of the, ahem, somewhat hard-to-find theoretical foundations of much of the research conducted were all off-limits.
6/n
6/n
As a young researcher, with a good dose of self-doubt, I *did not even know* that many such ideas could be cultivated.
I assumed I was too dumb/ignorant to understand the theoretical foundations that I could not pinpoint.
Not to mention my worries about scientific practices...
7/
I assumed I was too dumb/ignorant to understand the theoretical foundations that I could not pinpoint.
Not to mention my worries about scientific practices...
7/
But understanding how brains and minds work is hard. Nobody knows how to connect the idea of neurotransmitters to our thoughts and experiences.
Some thinking is due.
But no, the "game" I was being taught was: "show off your knowledge and produce data to support your claims".
8/n
Some thinking is due.
But no, the "game" I was being taught was: "show off your knowledge and produce data to support your claims".
8/n
It didn't work: I could not live *for* a kind of science that was little more than a self-referential game of who publishes more and where.
It was impossible to me, and, importantly, I did NOT know that it does not have to be like that.
9/n
It was impossible to me, and, importantly, I did NOT know that it does not have to be like that.
9/n
Back to the present, I'm now exposed to exactly the kind of thinking that I didn't know was possible back then.
Every day I see it, I feel gratitude on behalf of past-me and of all "present mes" that I'm sure are starting their careers now.
10/n
Every day I see it, I feel gratitude on behalf of past-me and of all "present mes" that I'm sure are starting their careers now.
10/n
The reason why I have not written this thread before is because I would like to credit and link to all examples of what I'm talking about.
But I can't: memory fails me. So I'll do a quasi-random thing instead.
With many, many apologies to all the people I'll miss.
11/n
But I can't: memory fails me. So I'll do a quasi-random thing instead.
With many, many apologies to all the people I'll miss.
11/n
I know who the people at the centre of this personal bubble of mine are (they are all "central" in my own mind, FWIW), so I'll start with them (in no deliberate order):
@IrisVanRooij @zerdeve @o_guest @Abebab @WiringTheBrain @djnavarro @kaznatcheev
12/n
@IrisVanRooij @zerdeve @o_guest @Abebab @WiringTheBrain @djnavarro @kaznatcheev
12/n
A special mention goes to many of my current colleagues @EPPICentre, who showed me that thinking deeply is allowed, even in academic settings (!), and encouraged me to try.
(Too many names here: you know who you are!)
13/n
(Too many names here: you know who you are!)
13/n
