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Professional practice

Scientists & researchers

A public account of uncertainty, evidence, negative results, collaboration, explanation, and ethical limits.

12 questions, 224 answers on the record, from 182 members. Every question is asked in FLAPSS wording — nobody answers as anybody else.

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Worth reading

What does everyone in your world seem to agree on that you think is wrong?

Mohamed ElBaradei

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 1997-2009; Nobel Peace Prize 2005

Recorded · Nobel Prize · 2005

In all this we can only move forward, if we work in a multilateral setting; and that also is another dimension of this – that is recognises the importance of multilateralism.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Director-General of the World Trade Organization from 2021; Finance Minister of Nigeria, 2003–2006 and 2011–2015

Recorded · TED · 2007

What I want to do this morning is share with you a couple of stories and talk about a different Africa.
David Hockney

Painter, draughtsman, printmaker and photographer

Recorded · The Guardian · 2015

I thought I was a hedonist at the time, but when I look back I was always working. I am always working. I work every day. I never give parties; I never gave them.
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Every question in this questionnaire

  1. Which unanswered question would most change your field if somebody resolved it? —
  2. Which problem are you still chipping away at? 12
  3. What evidence would make you abandon an idea you currently believe? —
  4. When did you last change your mind about something important? 28
  5. What did a failed experiment or negative result teach you that a successful result could not? —
  6. How has a setback or failure set you up for later success? 69
  7. What contribution from a collaborator changed the direction of your work? —
  8. What are you best at that nobody watching would notice? 26
  9. What makes you want to keep learning? 9
  10. What does the public most often misunderstand about what your field can know with confidence? —
  11. What does everyone in your world seem to agree on that you think is wrong? 80
  12. Which work could your field pursue but should choose not to? —

Who has answered

Members with enough answers in this questionnaire to be worth arriving at — listed A–Z, not ranked by count.

  • Barack Obama

    44th President of the United States, 2009–2017; United States Senator from Illinois 2005–2008

    2 answers United States b. 1961

  • Bill Clinton

    42nd President of the United States, 1993–2001

    3 answers United States b. 1946

  • Charlie Munger

    Vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, 1978–2023

    2 answers United States b. 1924

  • Daniel Kahneman

    Psychologist; laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, 2002

    2 answers Israel / United States 1934–2024

  • David Vélez

    Co-founder and chief executive of Nubank

    4 answers Colombia

  • Desmond Tutu

    Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town; chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Nobel Peace Prize, 1984

    4 answers South Africa 1931–2021

  • Edmund Hillary

    Mountaineer and explorer; first ascent of Everest, 1953

    3 answers New Zealand 1919–2008

  • Elinor Ostrom

    Political economist; laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, 2009

    2 answers United States 1933–2012

  • George Lucas

    Filmmaker; creator of Star Wars and founder of Lucasfilm

    2 answers United States b. 1944

  • Jensen Huang

    Co-founder, president and chief executive of NVIDIA

    2 answers United States b. 1963

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