# Research requires intrinsic motivation `Scientific progress on a broad front results from the free play of free intellects, working on subjects of their own choice, in the manner dictated by their curiosity for exploration of the unknown.` * From [[bushScienceEndlessFrontier1945]] Good research[^1] requires massive intrinsic motivation. “Massive intrinsic motivation” unpacks into two pieces: (1) researchers must have massive motivation and (2) it’s important that motivation is intrinsic. A lot has been written about #1 — great research is a punishing, demanding, creative pursuit that can’t just between the hours of 9 and 5 and requires your full self. Maybe I’ll write about that later but it seems pretty straightforward. Instead, I want to examine why research seems to stand out, even among creative pursuits, in its demand for intrinsic motivation. To some extent, this intrinsic motivation is important because research doesn’t lead to the other things that incentivize people. Unlike startups, investing, or business in general, research is not aiming to make you rich. Note that this is not always true - some people do go into research with the intention of making a lot of money. While equally prioritizing knowledge and value creation+capture can work in some domains, [[It is hard to capture value from research]]. Doing great research does not translate into status the way that art does. It’s ineffable, but even a highly regarded researcher feels lower status than even middling tier artists. A starving artist has a certain aesthetic appeal while a poor unknown researcher is just pathetic. Perhaps it’s because everybody feels like art is something accessible while the edge of knowledge is often out of sight and out of mind - ie. People don’t care. Of course, this is not the case if a researcher goes out of their way to elevate their own status, but again I would argue that the knowledge is no longer the priority and the research itself will suffer. Unlike politics, research does not cash out into power. Researchers certainly can be powerful of course. So research ends up as an activity that is a poor path to external things that people seek - wealth, status, and power - and yet requires just as much if not more dedication, discomfort, and creativity. What this note doesn’t address is *where intrinsic motivation comes from*. The common view is that intrinsic motivation comes from some magical platonic source. But in reality [[Motivation is not context-free]]. ### Related * [[Contemporary research has multiple failure modes]] * The need for massive intrinsic motivation stands at odds with the fact that [[Research has become a commodity]]. * [[People and organizations are all playing some game that has different ways of gaining status and power]] * [[Academia is the game where you gain status by getting attention for new knowledge]] * [[Research requires more trust than other disciplines]] [^1]: Of course, there’s the question “what is research?” Here I think I mean “the quest for new knowledge.” That’s obviously a [[Nebulous]] concept, and the *reason* you want that new knowledge can be very different. There’s a sense though, that the knowledge is the priority over other factors. [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Research+requires+intrinsic+motivation) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Research+requires+intrinsic+motivation)