So I recently bought the new Shin's CD (it's good by the way), and it kind of got me thinking a little of the parallels between the discovery of new music and discovery in the general scientific sense.
It's like there's this aristocracy element to it all, where being the best and (maybe more importantly) being the first is really key to it all.
For example, I happened to have "discovered" the Shins back in 2001 whereby the song "New Slang" made it onto the first baby mix ever I made for my first child (my daughter Hannah, who was born in August 2001). It's a great song, but that's not really the important part - the important part is that I was digging this band way before most. In fact, if I remember the lore right, the Shins didn't really take off until 2004 sometime, when some of their songs were spotlighted in the movie Garden State.
So there you have it, I was deemed "cool" or at least knowledgable in things of a musical nature because of this. Because in my wide circle of friends, acquaintances, and colleagues, I was first in this regard. It's a powerful concept really - and you certainly see it played out all the time in things like sports for example.
But I guess, here's my point. For all of the good intentions behind scientific progress, or the wonderment of seeing nature, isn't science simply another competition to fulfill that strongest of desires to be "first."
And the answer is, yes, definitely. And I gather this is also the reason why science can be a dangerous affair. The simple need to be the first can be a blind one, and often is after all. In fact, I wonder how many of my colleagues would site this notion as a defining factor in doing what they do. i.e. not to dilute the sentiment with thoughts of appeasing curiosity/knowledge/discovery, but really just boil it down to he/she getting to be the first ever to think like that, or see that, or that that.
Anyway, I'm not so hip in the music side of things anymore (being a parent will do that to you - and to lend credence to this sad situation, I can name all of the Wiggles individually). But that's o.k. - I have a couple firsts under the my belt and those should last me a while yet.
p.s. Isn't the above a great science-y cover?
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I definitely agree with the notion that scientists and music afficionados both value the cachet of being the first to discover something cool and different. There's a proprietary feeling that comes with finding something early and watching it grow into a big deal (one could debate how deserved this feeling is, of course). But I have to confess that I also have a place in my heart for a good lab meeting where someone simply lays out the results from troubleshooting their experiments. Is there a big find there? Not usually. But the answers to these simple questions can have a certain straightforward elegance that is also attractive. Or maybe that's just me. I mean, I'll keep my ears open for the successors to Boards of Canada, but I still have a place in my heart for AC/DC's biggest hits, y'know?