Scientists and cats may hold the same level of fatal curiosity

Who was more curious about quantum mechanics Schrodinger or the cat? Curiosity is what drives most scientists to pull back the veil on our understanding of the universe. It can also lead us astray into the realms of controversy. 

Image credit: https://tinyurl.com/3yh6fkt7

Is click-baiting ethical in academia? Click-baiting in academic articles is far from new (1), just think of all those articles where the title is a question. I personally do not like questions as titles for journal articles, I prefer a succinct statement describing the study. However, such a title may give away too much information for me to be interested in what was studied or the conclusions that were inferred. 

In 2020 I felt thoroughly defeated as a human and exasperated as a person of science, this in part was due to my interactions on social media. After pondering why I have shunned social media since 2020, the conclusion I arrived at was; 

...because I could not go past false or misleading posts without engaging in the discussion.

via Gfycat

From my hindsighted perspective, this is why "fake news" gets more traction and appears more in peoples feeds. It generated controversy which people become either outraged, curious, or seeking confirmation of what they want to believe. This generates more interest than mundane but important truths about the world for which many people are aware; climate change is real, plastics are choking the ocean and nature has a greater capacity to produce viruses capable of pandemics compared to under-funded scientists.

In this vein, I am going to embark on a poorly designed social experiment to observe how posting clickbaity posts may alter my reach on twitter. To paraphrase my good friend Dr Cameron Murray, that "when you pick fights on twitter people start to notice you."

To preempt a chorus of disapproving academic voices denouncing this endeavour as unprofessional; thanks for clicking and/or commenting. Regardless, greater discourse and reflection in science can only improve its rigour. So please let me know your thoughts on this topic.

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