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 [→]

Comments

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

a month ago • 23 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

2 months ago • 31 votes

This is not an About page.

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

2 months ago • 35 votes

Chelsea is not a metaphor.

CITS #92 | May 22, 2025

3 months ago • 30 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.

4 months ago • 52 votes

More in life

Notes on The Greatest Night In Pop

A Study In Leadership, Teamwork, and Love

12 hours ago • 3 votes

Is This Anything? 15

More friends should have secret codes.1 If you're at a restaurant and the waiter asks "do you want desert?", you often have this weird back-and-forth where 1) you're trying to figure out if the other person(s) want desert, 2) you're

yesterday • 3 votes

The Importance of Counter-Clockwise Dance Rituals

The pathway to magical living goes in a circle

yesterday • 3 votes

Coaching Toolkit: Sitting With the Unknown

Practices for navigating uncertainty even when it's uncomfortable

2 days ago • 6 votes

Our Shared Reality Will Self-Destruct in the Next 12 Months

What happens when you can't trust photos, videos, text, or the entire web?

3 days ago • 5 votes