Science policy as a possible EA cause area: problems and solutions

Abstract

Science is one of the key enablers of progress in our world. Yet it seems to me that there are many ways it could be improved. It seems to me from anecdotal evidence that most scientists are in fact not happy about the incentive structure, procedures, evaluation, or career advancement (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/science-isnt-broken). This is a complex system and problem, so it seems unlikely that a simple solution exists for all of these problems. Yet, being such an important engine of our society, some effort by EAs to understand it better would be a great use of resources. In the following, I give an overview of the main problems I see in science, and in some cases some ideas of how we could find a solution.