These cultural frozen accidents seem to be a result of arcane precedent, a glorified ideal from the days when science was just barely vindicated from the graps of religion. In today’s world, science is largely accepted as a legitimate exercise, and there is no need for it to be confined to a “solo genius”. The wisdom of the masses (even the limited masses well versed in the scientific method) can enrich the insights we get from any particular problems. I am always impressed by scientists such as von Neumann or Gibbs – for whom, there were no fields and categories to science. Science for them was truly the study of everything – and we have an oppurtunity to recreate that manifold today with the advent of IT.

1. The cultural norm of self-sufficiency, which springs from the myth that all important mathematics and science are done by a solo genius. This leads to all the anti-”cheating” honor systems in Universities, the tendency to “steal” from one another, the tenure review process, abuses of peer-review… all kinds of sins and pathologies.

And it undermines any interest a “real” “serious” scientist has in Twitter or social media by means you’ve already touched on.

2. The cultural norm of contemplative problem-solving, which springs from the potent (maybe ubiquitous) myth that “thinking” is how scientists are most “productive”. Witness the altar of the whiteboard in any theoretician’s office, the long hours for delayed gratificayion of a difficult result, the insistence on ungainly huge “deliverables” in the form of complete papers, and grant applications that are obliged to take years instead of weeks to complete. In the real world, interacting with the eventual beneficiaries of one’s work (“customers”) help drive it in useful directions and adapt to the changing world. Scientific work is pure Waterfall Project Management, in most cases.