海角大神

Big and new ideas in scientific research don鈥檛 always originate in well-equipped labs or with more money. Sometimes the greatest resource is freedom. To see why, look at the exodus of people 鈥� especially creative innovators and entrepreneurs 鈥� from Russia and China over the past year.

Russia鈥檚 exodus of talent began with Western economic sanctions imposed after the Ukraine invasion, new restrictions on the internet, and later a harsh military draft of young men. Tens of thousands of high-tech workers fled to Israel, Georgia, or Kazakhstan, where they could find opportunities and free expression in safe havens. Those countries welcomed them as potential founts of innovation.

The exodus from China began with a crackdown on its biggest tech companies, especially their founders, as well as a draconian lockdown of cities against COVID-19. Many of the country鈥檚 most creative people moved to the United States, Singapore, and Japan to avoid China鈥檚 increasing techno-authoritarianism, or a top-down approach to research.

鈥淣ow that they have lived free of fear in other countries, they are reluctant to put themselves and their businesses under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party again,鈥� wrote The New York Times. One founder of a crypto banking startup cited the need to have a say in how government makes rules. 鈥淭here are many other places [than China] where you can do things,鈥� said Aginny Wang, a co-founder of Flashwire who moved from China to Singapore.

These two waves of talent emigration, both of which may set back each country鈥檚 science and technology, are timely reminders about the most basic element for breakthroughs in scientific thought: freedom. They come as yet another study suggests global science has been in a slump in producing 鈥渄isruptive鈥� discoveries, such as lasers, airplanes, and transistors.

The study, conducted at the University of Minnesota and the University of Arizona, looked at 45 million papers and 3.9 million U.S. patents from 1945 to 2010 to see which research pointed to groundbreaking disruptions in fields from physics to social science. This 鈥渄isruption index鈥� showed a decline in basic discoveries after World War II and then a leveling since the 1990s. Also noted was an increase in the use of words like 鈥渋mprove鈥� and 鈥渆nhance鈥� over language such as 鈥渕ake鈥� and 鈥減roduce.鈥�

As in China and Russia today, many researchers may feel less free to pursue novel and radical ideas. In the West, scholars are publishing research more than ever but in increasingly narrower silos of knowledge. Many spend half their time applying for government grants, which are often given out based on demands for immediate, risk-free results.

鈥淩ather than minting revolutionary ways of thinking, science and technology are increasingly polishing the same conceptual pennies,鈥� writes science commentator Anjana Ahuja in The Financial Times.

The study鈥檚 authors say scientific workers can find greater freedom in undirected research and more sabbaticals. Long-shot research begins with short-term liberties to think, explore, make mistakes, and share ideas freely. The best research centers are small in number with high trust and no compulsion for conformity. Or just the opposite of what authoritarian leaders prefer. More freedom may be the greatest disruptor in the world of science seeking disruptive ideas.