Ok, folks and fellow scientists. I’m at it again! You nailed me. Soooo busted! Like many people on the internet, I’m after my five minutes of fame, right? Tell you what, though; there are sure much easier and quicker ways of acquiring it. I have been at this for over 30 years now and my fame acquisition is moving about as fast as watching paint dry on a cool wet evening.
If fame is my primary motivating factor for doing all of this, I am sure going about it all the wrong way. There are people on the internet getting millions of views and followers and they certainly are not using my “formula” for internet success. You know of whom I speak. The more trivial, ridiculous and negative the content, the greater the results and monetization. People don’t want to be informed or think nearly as much as they crave titillating mindless, passive entertainment. Hey, I watch this kind of stuff myself! Sometimes, you just don’t want to think…about anything! I get it. I see ripoffs in all kinds of creative content. Aspiring musicians can’t dump enough of their music fast enough on Spotify. And for what? Money? No way, Jose! Most make virtually nothing by doing this. Apparently, all they want is recognition, and I doubt they even get that. Same thing with inventors; totally screwed by big corporations and the patent office. The list goes on and on.
So I’ll wrap up my rant by saying the following: Not everybody on the internet is “on the take”, selling something, or trying to “pull the wool over your eyes”. I happen to be one of them. Simple as that. Do I have an agenda? Of course I do! Doesn’t everybody? My agenda is as ridiculously simple as it is honest. I want to know the truth. In the case of my profession, I want to know the real level of importance my discoveries are to the scientific community and the world at large. This can never be achieved until honest follow up studies are performed. I am in no position to do this, but others are. If this is me selling out for fame, prestige, and money, I’m doing a very poor job of it.
Evolution Turned Upside Down 