[ArtWomb]

Absolutely this: that research is a creative exploration of the search space. It's why artists and scientists have such a kinship ;)

The image of a solitary Principle Investigator is fading fast. Cloud based datasets, Jupyter Notebooks, open review archives, even public discussions and distribution of results via Twitter attest to the collaborative nature of science in the modern era.

Consider the recent initiatives in Brain understanding, that could yield profound implications beyond neuroscience and AI into public policy and our most fundamental beliefs. And its not just discoveries about intelligence. Completing entire transcriptomes of cell diversity in mouse and nematode brains creates a cell atlas at a level of detail that other researchers can then use in their own investigations. Such as exploring the robustness of genetic diversity in transcription error rates!

[marmaduke]

> Consider the recent initiatives in Brain understanding, that could yield profound implications beyond neuroscience

As a sideline observer inside the Human Brain Project I have to say this is already the case, perhaps not always for the positive