Usefulness of Useless Knowledge

What is "useless" knowledge? Can it ever become useful? And how can this approach to scientific research be applied further afield?

To be really useful, it’s always a second order of fact. It’s always something that comes as a spin-off of your...

It's not only about sharing the products of science, but also the values of science—thinking longterm, thinking about both facts and the uncertainties, thinking in terms of reason. . . . If you think about the Space Race, it was wonderful to put a...

If you look back at history, you see that large transformations in society, the really immense breakthroughs, they always came as a second order of fact—they were the spin-offs of fundamental enquiry, very deep thinking, which can only happen if you...

What is the best use of scientists’ time, energy, and grant funding? Should researchers investigate the fundamental nature of the universe…or cure cancer? Or is there a way to ensure that we can do both, even if financial support is harder to get?

Cl...

John Timmer of Ars Technica reviews The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge (Princeton University Press, March 2017) by founding IAS Director Abraham Flexner with a companion essay by current IAS Director Robbert Dijkgraaf. Of the book, Timmer writes,...

"Flexner makes two points that seem to me particularly important right now, especially for policy makers thinking about higher education in the United States. One is that it is impossible to predict what research will turn out to be "useful" and...

“In some sense, the evidence of the usefulness of science is all around us,” Robbert Dijkgraaf said. “It’s in our back pockets, in our blood streams. We are governed by science—everybody is, even the people who aren’t supportive of it. But we are...

Video of Robbert Dijkgraaf's Google Author Talk "The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge" now available here.

The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge | Talks at Google:
Robbert Dijkgraaf, Institute Director and Leon and Levy Professor
Date: March 28, 2017

Rob...

On the face of it, usefulness seems more definable in the fields of science, where it can be expressed in theses, discoveries, inventions and products. But even here usefulness can be elusive.

In his article “The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge”...

Klaus Taschwer of Der Standard reviews The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge (Princeton University Press, March 2017) by founding IAS Director Abraham Flexner with a companion essay by current IAS Director Robbert Dijkgraaf. Of Flexner's original...