A Theory about Theories

Why no one gets the credit they deserve

This week’s video uses Stigler’s Law of Eponymy as a jumping-off point to explore a series of unexpected connections between scientists and to showcase how storytelling distorts the assignment of credit.

A good story is incredibly powerful.

Being close to Hollywood and having several friends in the movie business, I’ve seen this firsthand—not in the way you’d expect. I’ve watched people I know go on talk shows and press junkets and tell stories that are, at best, half-truths.

At first I was shocked: “That’s not how it happened! How can they just change it?” But then I realized—the real version of events is often boring. They’ve shaped the facts to make it a story.

When you’re out selling something, you need that story to hook people in. Otherwise, why should they care about your project? The accuracy of the story is secondary.

Science, in many ways, is the same. Every new invention or innovation needs a story—something for investors to invest in or the public to believe in. And those stories are often… just stories.

This video is definitely a departure from our usual style. Whether it was successful or not, at least I have the Charlie Day tie and corkboard—both of which I intend to put to use in future videos.

Video sources:

Black, Fischer. "How to Use the Holes in Black‐Scholes." Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 1.4 (1989): 67-73.

Black, Fischer, and Myron Scholes. "The pricing of options and corporate liabilities." Journal of political economy 81.3 (1973): 637-654.

Stigler, Stephen M. "Stigler's law of eponymy." Transactions of the New York academy of sciences 39.1 Series II (1980): 147-157.

Merton, Robert K. "The Matthew effect in science: The reward and communication systems of science are considered." Science 159.3810 (1968): 56-63.

Merton, Robert C. "Theory of rational option pricing." (1971): 141-183.

Mill, J. S. (1843). A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive. University Press of the Pacific.

Theissen, Gerd; Maloney, Linda M. (2011). The New Testament: A Literary History. G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Fortress Press. p. unpaginated. ISBN 978-0-8006-9785-3.

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. The Black Swan:: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section:" On Robustness and Fragility". Vol. 2. Random house trade paperbacks, 2010.