February 25, 2026 — Insurgents vs. Incumbents

The last 25 years in scientific publishing has been about privileging technology-backed insurgents — business models, philosophies, belief systems, information theories. Natural science empowered by digital tools flipped to “digital science” at the expense of funding for natural science. Things are more complicated now in the sciences. Insurgents are coming from all directions, so we have to distinguish between bad insurgents and good insurgents — and some of the new bad ones are playing an updated version of the tech game, too. Disruption is so embedded now that normies are insurgents. Good insurgents want to align with pro-science players for the long-term and to the benefit of all. Bad insurgents continue to exploit communication channels and others, primarily for their own enrichment and benefit. In addition, bewildering controversies have emerged between the science-aligned incumbents and science-aligned insurgents, in particular AAAS and Stand Up for Science. We discuss the value of the newer, unencumbered insurgents vs. encumbered incumbents, how the battle is against anti-science players unencumbered by rules, norms, or bureaucratic process, and how we need to support the good insurgents who are focused beyond the horizon of crazy in-fighting. The incumbents have the power to influence, and they have a choice to make. We also share our “Discoveries of the Week.” The Murder of Jane Stanford: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-murder-of-jane-stanford/id278981407?i=1000751170391 Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/