It&#x27;s amazing that none of the commenters so far seem to acknowledge that competition for prestige is one of the forces that fuels research. Take that away people will be less aggressive about pursuing and investing their time in valuable areas of inquiry.<p>There are downsides to competition but there are considerable upsides also. The bet we make in our culture is that the upsides outweigh the downsides, and based on history it seems to be true.