We Scientists Have Fantasies Of Being Uniquely Qualified To Make Great Discoveries. Alas, Reality Is Cruel: Most Of Us Are Replaceable. For The Vast Majority Of Scientific Contributions, If Scientist X Hadn't Achieved It That Year, Scientist Y Would Have Achieved The Same Result Or Something Very Similar Soon Thereafter.

-Jared Diamond

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We Scientists Have Fantasies Of Being Uniquely

Jared Diamond

We Scientists Have Fantasies Of Being Uniquely Qualified To Make Great Discoveries. Alas, Reality Is Cruel: Most Of Us Are Replaceable. For The Vast Majority Of Scientific Contributions, If Scientist X Hadn't Achieved It That Year, Scientist Y Would Have Achieved The Same Result Or Something Very Similar Soon Thereafter.

Topic

Science

Reality

Discovery

It Invites A Search For Ultimate Causes: Why Were Europeans, Rather Than Africans Or Native Americans, The Ones To End Up With Guns, The Nastiest Germs, And Steel?

Native American

Gun

Steel