In my previous post, I shared the advice of an esteemed professor to ambitious young researchers (see the link above). Continuing this theme, I believe it is also important to share the insights of a French Nobel Laureate in Physics. During a lengthy interview with a journalist from the Público newspaper at the University of Minho, he revealed, 'In cutting-edge research, you have to be arrogant enough...'. https://www.publico.pt/2024/07/14/ciencia/entrevista/inquietacao-arrogancia-claro-nobel-preso-quantica-alain-aspect-2094271
Perhaps 'arrogance' isn't the most fitting term for what he intended to convey. He might have been referring to the 'arrogance of rebellion' mentioned by a renowned Italian physicist in a 2019 interview with the same newspaper, Público https://pacheco-torgal.blogspot.com/2021/10/study-on-academic-inbreeding-involving.html
Personally, I am far more inspired by the resolute advice of a fearless French mathematician. At the end of his six-year tenure as President of the European Research Council, he emphatically declared that when scientific funding cuts are at stake, researchers must not hesitate to confront political power head-on https://pacheco-torgal.blogspot.com/2019/12/there-are-times-when-scientists-must.html
PS - If scientists are destined to occupy the highest echelon of the societal hierarchy in the forthcoming Type One civilization, how could anyone fault them for exhibiting a sense of pride, even if it borders on arrogance?
