Chapter 204 Divergence
The two went into the operations room.
Camilla didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point. "Professor Garcia, I think there's a problem with your research direction."
Before Aurora could speak, she handed over a document and continued, "Over the weekend, the three of us reviewed the current progress of the project. In addition, we also revisited the research background, experimental methods, specific data, and the conclusions from the first two phases."
Camilla looked up and stared directly at Aurora, "We finally found that the lack of progress in the third phase of the experiment might not be due to inherent issues, but because the entire project has been off track from the beginning."
The problem was discovered by all three, but Hestia and Royce didn't dare to speak up.
So Camilla had to be the bad guy.
Seeing Aurora fall silent, Camilla had no intention of stopping, "I know, given your personality, you either don't do something or you see it through to the end. Even if it turns out to be wrong, there must be enough data to support and prove that point."
Camilla continued, "As a scholar, pursuing perfection is certainly not wrong, but have you ever thought about the fact that a person's life and energy are limited? Spending a lot of time proving something is wrong, when it could have been corrected early on, is that meaningful?"
It was like a car accident; if the driver already sensed the speed was too fast, just stepping on the brake could prevent the tragedy. Why crash to verify if it would really kill someone?
Aurora sighed deeply.
"Before this, I speculated how long it would take you to discover the problem. A semester? A year? Or two years? But I didn't expect you to act so quickly." Aurora's eyes showed a mix of emotion, surprise, but mostly pride.
Not only did they discover the problem, but they also organized the evidence.
She patted the document Camilla handed over, not opening it, but knowing that the data and conclusions presented inside were irrefutable facts.
Camilla was stunned, "Professor Garcia, you..."
"You think I didn't know the research direction was off?" Initially, Aurora might not have known, but as the research deepened, the problems gradually surfaced.
With Aurora's professional ability, how could she not notice?
"Then why didn't you..."
"Want to ask why I didn't stop it in time?"
Camilla nodded.
Aurora's gaze dimmed, "I'm not a good mentor."
This project started four years ago. At that time, her health was already poor, and Camilla's decision to forgo her Ph.D. hit her hard, causing Aurora to fall seriously ill.
She rested for eight months before gradually recovering, but she still couldn't fully immerse herself in academia.
However, the project couldn't be put on hold.
She said plainly, "Because it directly affects whether students can graduate on time and get their degrees."
Graduate students were students who needed to do research with a research mindset.
So how was this "research" measured?
The most important thing was the output of papers, followed by the quantity and quality of projects done with the mentor, which was directly related to the papers.
Aurora fell ill, and the project couldn't be put on hold, so the early stages were left to the graduate students of that year to explore on their own.
By the time Aurora fully recovered and returned to the lab, the first two phases of the project were already completed.
These two phases successfully graduated two classes of students.
If everything went smoothly, the current third phase of the experiment would also successfully graduate this year's students.
Aurora asked, "You think I didn't want to stop and turn back? It was too late. Too much had already been invested in this ship, and even knowing it would eventually sink, I could only keep adding to it."
Too far gone.
"But fortunately, someone still discovered the problem."
Did others really have no sense of it?
Camilla didn't believe it.
But once on the ship, unable to turn it around alone, they could only continue down the wrong path.
After all, for most graduate students, their goal wasn't research. Getting a master's degree was just to have an advantage in future job searches.
So, for them, the paper wasn't an academic achievement but a graduation requirement.
If Aurora suddenly overturned the entire project, the students who had already graduated wouldn't care, but what about the current graduating class?
They had already started preparing their graduation papers based on the project.
It wasn't that Aurora didn't want to turn back; she couldn't!
"It's also my fault. My health failed me, and I was in the hospital for so long. When I discovered the problem, I didn't mention it for the sake of that graduating class, and I never mentioned it afterward."
Now, it was too late to correct it because the situation was pressing.
"But I'm still very pleased that you discovered the problem so quickly and found the key."
Camilla was silent.
Aurora suddenly asked, "What do you think of Hestia and Royce?"
"In what aspect?"
"Academic thinking, research talent, personality, and attitude."
Camilla pondered for a moment, "They are both quite good overall."
Both of them had critical thinking, otherwise, they wouldn't have discovered the problem with the project.
After discovering the problem, their first thought wasn't to avoid it but to verify it, just like Camilla.
During the verification process, they each showed their strengths.
Hestia was quick-thinking and had an amazing memory.
Royce was calm and composed, able to see problems from a certain height.
Aurora couldn't help but smile, "It seems I didn't choose the wrong people. Since you've already discovered the problem with the research direction, you probably have a rough idea in your mind. This project is now meaningless to you."
Aurora said word by word, "My suggestion is to start a new project based on your current ideas. But there's only one lab."
This lab was far smaller than Sebastian's, making it impossible to conduct two projects simultaneously.
Aurora continued, "Apply to the school for another lab."
A new lab just for the three of them.
The conversation ended, and Camilla conveyed Aurora's message to Hestia and Royce.
Hestia frowned, "So we're just going to let this project continue down the wrong path? Does such research still have meaning?"
Camilla said, "A wrong direction doesn't mean the research is meaningless. Every conclusion has its necessity for exploration, whether right or wrong. "It's just that now we have a clear direction. Instead of spending time verifying the wrong, it's better to explore the right. Comparatively, the latter is definitely more valuable."
Science was vast and boundless. In the long history, there were both right and wrong, working together and corroborating each other to build a good research ecosystem.
Just like the clearest river had silt at the bottom and fish in the water.
If it were just water, it wouldn't be called a river.
So next...
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