Some dilemmas of today's Science

The current situation of "professional" Science causes some distress. Many people have written about it in recent years. I post here some of the problems identified, to then suggest some interesting readings. A more explicit question is to what extent the problems highlighted below are eventually reducing innovation.

1) What is a Ph.D.? Maybe some years ago a Ph.D. was requisite to enter an academic career. Commonly, not many people followed this path. But this does not appear to be the case anymore as many, many students now go for a Ph.D. This excess and lack of clear path lead to competition and stress. Should we then redesign graduate schools?

2) Incentives in Science. The "industrialization" of many scientific activities has led to several metrics that are modifying the goals of scientists. This is also disorienting newcomers while selecting for a very definite and very competitive profile, which soon learns the optimization of these incentives. 

3) An ecosystem that potentiates too much narcissism. While strong narcissistic personalities have been accepted in Science, this type of personality has been potentiated recently.  Competition for limited economic resources and the lack of accountability contribute to the invasion of this trait.

Some readings.

David Cyranoski , Natasha Gilbert , Heidi Ledford , Anjali Nayar & Mohammed Yahia. The PhD factory (2011).

Peter A. Lawrence. The mismeasurement of science (2007).

Bruce Alberts, Mark W. Kirschner, Shirley Tilghman and Harold Varmus. Rescuing US biomedical research from its systemic flaws (2014).

Donald Geman and Stuart Geman. Science in the age of selfies (2016).

Bruno Lemaitre. Science, narcissism and the quest for visibility (2017).