Benjamin Todd

However, we still think research is often high impact, both within academia and outside it.

Along with communicators, many of the highest impact people in history have been researchers.

Consider Alan Turing.

He was a mathematician who developed code-breaking machines that allowed the Allies to be far more effective against Nazi U-boats in World War II.

Some historians estimate this enabled D-Day to happen a year earlier than it would have otherwise.

Since World War II resulted in 10 million deaths per year, Turing may have saved about 10 million lives.

And he invented the computer.

Turing's example shows that research can be both theoretical and high-impact.

Much of his work concerned the abstract mathematics of computing, which wasn't initially practically relevant but became important over time.

On the applied side, we saw lots of examples of high-impact medical research in Chapter 2.

Of course, not everyone will be an Alan Turing and not every discovery gets adopted.

Nevertheless, we think that in some cases, research can be one of the best ways to have an impact.

Why?

First, when new ideas are discovered, they can be spread incredibly cheaply, so it's a way that a single career can change a field.

Moreover, new ideas accumulate over time, so research contributes to a significant fraction of long-run progress.

However, only a relatively small fraction of people are engaged in research.

Only 0.1% of the population are academics, and the proportion was much smaller throughout history.

If a small number of people account for a large fraction of progress, then, on average, each person's efforts are significant.

Second, because there's little commercial incentive to do research relative to its importance, if you do care more about social impact than profit, then it's a good opportunity to have an edge.

Most researchers don't get rich, even if their discoveries are extremely valuable.