Eating more corn doesn't make you a better farmer,

just like more reading articles doesn't make you a better researcher.

This post was inspired by Merlin Man.

Digital Paper

Every scientific journal article is now a pdf. However, most journals treat pdfs as digital paper. That is similar to thinking about cars like faster horses. Both are limited viewpoints. Neuroimaging is inherently multidimensional. The richness of the data can not be conveyed in a table and a screen capture. Supplemental materials, when they are available, are more tables and 2-d images. The next logical step in my own research is a video stepping through all brain slices. Why stop there? How about an 3-d image viewer for fMRI results? That would allow the reader to view any part of the brain from any viewpoint. How about a screencast of experimental procedures? That would be a better way to convey attentional blink paradigms.

Robustness over Prediction

If I can't predict tomorrow's job market, how should I advise first-year students, undergraduate or graduate, who are preparing a job market in 5-7 years. Instead of providing a false of security via predictions, I advocate being robust.

Here is my short list of academic robustness:
Diverse research and teaching skills, within and between disciplines
No debt, both in loans and obligations
Low overhead, both professional and personally
Plenty of free capital, in time, attention, and money

This post was inspired by Nassim Taleb's book Black Swan.