[p2p-research] Paradigm change in the practice of science?

[Ryan]

  Sent to you by Ryan via Google Reader: Paradigm change in the practice
of science? via Deric Bownds' MindBlog by mdbownds at wisc.edu (Deric
Bownds) on 19/08/10
John Markoff writes an interesting article on how fundamentally
critical discourse in mathematics and physics is being transformed by
the web. The case in point was the claim by a researcher that he had
demonstrated that P (the set of problems that can be easily solved)
does not equal NP (those problems that are difficult to solve, but easy
to verify once a solution is found). This inequality is fundamental to
the modern cryptography required for electronic commerce and digital
privacy. The proposed proof was found to have significant shortcomings
within weeks, instead of the months to years required by exchanges of
written papers and debate at scientific meetings, because discussion
and analysis was carried out in real time on blogs and a wiki that had
been quickly set up for the purpose of collectively analyzing the
paper. Clay Shirky, author of “Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and
Generosity in a Connected Age” argues:
....that the emergence of these new collaborative tools is paving the
way for a second scientific revolution in the same way the printing
press created a demarcation between the age of alchemy and the age of
chemistry...a new set of norms is emerging about what it means to do
mathematics, assuming coordinated participation.
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