Pure Research is a Bet on Progress • BoredReading.com

Full Width [alt+shift+f]

Shortcuts [alt+shift+k]

Sign Up [alt+shift+s]

Log In [alt+shift+l]

Back to articles

22

Pure Research is a Bet on Progress

from Charlie Becker [alt+shift+b] in life

Normally I spend part of my summer convincing a group of reluctant students that pure research is an essential part of the progress and preservation of civilization. But for the first time in four years, my calendar was blank for the middle weeks of June. I would usually teach a two-week-long intensive course to undergraduate students interested in research. I want to revisit what I wrote last year when teaching this course:

over a year ago

Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a] Read now [→]

Improve your reading experience

Logged in users get linked directly to articles resulting in a better reading experience. Please login for free, it takes less than 1 minute.

More from Charlie Becker

Fumbling Toward Truth and Beauty in Used Bookstores

CBL #95 | A dispatch from a Sunday at the store

2 days ago • 7 votes

I was selected for a $100,000 O'Shaughnessy Ventures Fellowship to empower used bookstores with AI.

CBL #94 | Big Update on Life & Work

a month ago • 19 votes

This is not an About page.

CBL #93 - Some thoughts on thinking/acting, naming/doing, and where this blog is headed

a month ago • 24 votes

Chelsea is not a metaphor.

CITS #92 | May 22, 2025

2 months ago • 22 votes

We don't have time, we are time. | Friday Footnotes #4

Footnote #4 is based on a passage from 4,000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman.

3 months ago • 43 votes

More in life

Is This Anything? 10

youtube + Francis Bacon

20 hours ago • 2 votes

10 Classical Music Pieces To Take On Holiday

A Summer Listening List

3 hours ago • 1 votes

What Is Happening to Music Criticism?

And the sad decline of the New York Times

2 days ago • 4 votes

i've weaseled my way into a business camp for newsletter writers

what could go wrong????

2 days ago • 4 votes

Fumbling Toward Truth and Beauty in Used Bookstores

CBL #95 | A dispatch from a Sunday at the store

2 days ago • 7 votes