Lecture
Neomania: How our obsession with innovation is failing science, and how to restore trust
- Date
- Friday 29 May 2026
- Time
- Address
-
Van Steenis
Einsteinweg 2
2333 CC Leiden - Room
- F1.04
Abstract
Contemporary science faces a profound poly-crisis: replication failures, weak theories, poor generalizability, and declining public trust. I contend that these symptoms stem not merely from flawed practices or institutional pressures, but from a deeper cultural pathology: Neomania, or our collective obsession with innovation. This valorization of the new for its own sake has reshaped the scientific enterprise, privileging novelty over reliability and fragmentation over coordination. In the second part of the talk, I articulate a reform agenda centered on scientific coordination, shared research programs and epistemic integrity—an agenda that goes well beyond the principles of Open Science. I thereby advance a constructive vision for rebuilding science as a coherent and truth-oriented system.