Through Conversations The Psychology Behind Progress - Adam Mastroianni
Feb 21, 2026
Adam Mastroianni, a psychology writer researching innovation, progress, and mental health, explores why major inventions were slow and how institutions shape discovery. He discusses creativity, alternative funding and small research houses, the role of curiosity and disagreement, and a new framework for studying the mind and self-experimentation.
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More Funding, Fewer Breakthroughs
- We spend far more on R&D yet yield relatively fewer major discoveries than past eras.
- This divergence signals institutional problems in how we produce scientific breakthroughs.
The Grant Pipeline Narrows Creativity
- Professionalization funnels researchers into a narrow, homogenous pipeline centered on grants.
- That gatekeeping excludes idiosyncratic thinkers and high-variance, high-upside ideas.
Try Lotteries And Golden Tickets For Funding
- Experiment with alternative funding like lotteries or single-decision donors to increase variance.
- Reserve a small budget to test these methods and compare outcomes over decades.
