Timeline for What should one do if they've discovered a "breakthrough" but lack academia credentials? [duplicate]
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
23 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 18, 2014 at 6:09 | review | Reopen votes | |||
| Nov 19, 2014 at 12:35 | |||||
| Nov 18, 2014 at 3:29 | history | closed |
410 gone enthu Moriarty Nobody J. Zimmerman |
Duplicate of Does one need to be affiliated with a university to publish papers?, I believe I have solved a famous open problem. How do I convince people in the field that I am not a crank? | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 22:02 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | In all of my experience, scientific breakthroughs are never made by hobbyists. They are sometimes -- not that rarely -- made by amateurs, but that's not the same thing at all. Amateurs love the subject, so they are willing to spend as long as it takes to develop their ideas to fruition (or see for themselves that they do not work out as they originally thought). Hobbyists settle for convincing (to them) evidence that they have had the essential idea of a scientific breakthrough and want recognition for this alone: they are not interested in spadework. | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 20:27 | comment | added | Cape Code | @RLH the majority of the stuff that really helps us on a daily basis are, or have been, commercial products. You can surely benefit the public by selling your invention. Whether or not patenting is appropriate is not something that can be determined in this context. At any rate, good luck with your endeavor. | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 19:58 | comment | added | Austin Henley | @dmckee Im sure there are alternatives that would suffice. For example, vixra.org. | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 19:50 | comment | added | dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten | Several comments have suggested posting to arXiv, but this will not be possible without either an existing publication history in the particular subfield or the endorsement of a respected practitioner of that subfield. | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 19:13 | comment | added | RLH | Profiteering-- I like the way you think! But seriously, if there is any merit to what I've done (I assume there is but I'm the type of person who has to test something an insane amount of time, before I share it) then I'd rather all this information be made public for general use. Also, I think the nature of the solution is too simple to patent. Of course, if CPU endianness can be patented, then I certainly guess I could patent what I'm doing. Hmm... There is a chance that you've just helped me pay for my children's future-education! | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 19:03 | comment | added | Cape Code | Is there a reason why you want to publish your breakthrough? You could also patent your idea and sell it. Either way you don't need academic credentials for that. | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:53 | vote | accept | RLH | ||
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:46 | review | Close votes | |||
| Nov 18, 2014 at 3:29 | |||||
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:42 | answer | added | Austin Henley | timeline score: 9 | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:39 | history | undeleted | RLH | ||
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:39 | history | deleted | RLH | via Vote | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:36 | answer | added | ChristianSo | timeline score: 2 | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:35 | comment | added | RLH | And just so this doesn't become a question, this is in no way related to P=NP, or other comp-sci voodoo. ;) | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:32 | comment | added | RLH | @AustinHenley I think a combination of your responses could be the best approach-- post an informal document on ArXiv and then reach-out to the intellectual community. Post an answer with a few more generalized comments and I'll give you the answer. I was aware of arXiv but I didn't know that it was open for general publication. | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:30 | comment | added | Stephan Kolassa | Related: academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18491/… | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:29 | comment | added | Austin Henley | Another possible idea: Reach out to some researchers in the field to see if they would be interested in helping you. | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:29 | comment | added | 410 gone | I think writing a good paper will be pretty easy for you: very very few scientists ever attain "a very thorough knowledge of a particular field of science", yet publish, so you'll be fine. | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:27 | comment | added | RLH | @EnergyNumbers Yes, I think that is a good question and it nearly answers my question. Still, what steps should one take to protect themselves and share the information? Should they attempt to write a paper and submit it? What if they are, exactly, as articulate in the field as should be acceptable for such a journal, but their science checks out? | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:25 | comment | added | Austin Henley | You could always write it up in a less formal manner and submit it to arxiv.org so that it is documented, public, and timestamped. Getting attention to it is another problem though. | |
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:15 | review | First posts | |||
| Nov 17, 2014 at 19:06 | |||||
| Nov 17, 2014 at 18:15 | history | asked | RLH | CC BY-SA 3.0 |