2) “think about how such researchers earned such status. It
was not because they had friends, it was not because people
liked them. It was because they established a track-record
of contributions that the field, in general, held in very
high regard.”
This is a self-serving narrative that reflects survivorship
bias and which ignores everything we know about how people
act in real life. Science is done by humans, who have
personal interests, biases, and who live within a culture
where status is built on many layers of privilege. Every
decision we make is filtered by these factors, which allow
some people (like me) to accumulate a variety of advantages
at every career stage, simply because of how they look, who
their friends are, and where they grew up. They are more
likely to have papers accepted, to be selected for podium
presentations, to have a job application reviewed, to be
interviewed, to be hired, to be selected as editors and
reviewers, to be elected to positions of leadership, and to
be given favorable treatment in the workplace. To be taken
seriously. If we pretend that these advantages are ALL due
to the scientific merit of one’s work, we are characterizing
scientists as some species entirely separate from the rest
of humanity.
