Thanks for this comment! Really.

I have been analyzing the scientific field for so long and what I always abhorred was this travel activity that researchers are subjected to, wherever their specialization leads them and one is forced to give up control.

We indeed have to travel quite a bit although this is currently changing especially for ecological reasons. In my case, I am going less and less to conferences (I hate in particular the big ones) and prefer to focus on smaller workshops where one actually can do some work. In parallel, I prefer to travel to visit a few colleagues somewhere for 10-15 days (if one flies, one should make the stay long) and again, actually do some work. However, the amount of traveling is sometimes insane and could yield health issues (this is currently my case).

I had made it my mission not to let the topics determine me, but to determine the topics, which will probably lead me abroad in the future anyway

This is a great mission! Always work on what you like. Be happy. As we are generally underpaid and the working conditions are sometimes not great, it is better to be allowed to dedicate oneself to what one likes! That is the super-positive aspect of the job.

Going abroad for a postdoc is a must. It is very hard to get any permanent job if you stay in the same country, except maybe if you are from the US. Actually, maybe I have misunderstood your first question. that is not related to yearly trips but more to the postdoc-after-postdoc situation. Please let me know...

This makes it all the more important for scientists to have a hive 🐝 to have a digital place where they can be at home, where they can come back again and again, a place that gives them stability.

This is what we try on STEMsocial for years :) Slowly and slowly we will get there, on our app in particular!

Even though science tries to deliver honest, reliable and quality content, there is still a lot of controversy, how far should string theory be pursued?

I would say as far as possible. What is important is to diversify, to have people working on different aspects, so that we make sure not to miss anything. I personally prefer to focus on more phenomenological aspects than on string theory (I am not a string theorist). Therefore, I find it great that other people continue working on strings. As long as a theory is not ruled out by data, there is no reason to abandon it. Moreover, the techniques developed in one domain can often be exported to another domain and advance knowledge there.

I hope I answered all the questions! Thanks again for the great comment! And feel free to pass by on discord to say hi :)