Dan GoodmanApr 6, 2024

If you're considering a life in academia it's worth watching this video and deciding if it's worth it to you or not. All of this is true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKiBlGDfRU8

For me the answer is yes, despite all the problems, for two reasons.

Firstly, I'm lucky enough that I do have considerable freedom to work on the things that I'm interested in. If I was more interested in success or if I was on a 'soft money' position and forced to chase constant grants, I don't know if that would be true. But, such luck is rare.

Secondly, as a socialist I would feel very uncomfortable spending my creative energy on most of the non-academic things I'm qualified for: advertising and surveillance (i.e. tech companies), finance, or startups (making venture capitalists even richer). I could imagine academia getting bad enough that I'd make that choice, but for me it's not there yet. I completely understand that it is that bad for others and I mean no criticism of them.

In a way I suppose this is a sort of defence of academia, but it's a half hearted one at best. I think it's absolutely tragic and depressing that academia has become like this. Doing research should be one of the most joyful and creative things anyone could do with their lives.

Didn't know about this before posting and I think because of the interesting discussion that followed I'll leave my post up, but do see this comment since it seems the author of the YouTube video has some problematic views.

https://synapse.cafe/@axoaxonic/112225621387460997

My dream died, and now I'm here

YouTube
Show threadNicole RustApr 6, 2024

@neuralreckoning
Thanks for this. I watched. Good to discuss.

I don’t deny anyone’s experience. Thus story is horrible and I believe that all this happened to her.

That said, I’m worried about encouraging the next gen to watch this video as representative of academia and decide if they want to sign up. I certainly don’t agree that all the statements in the video about science at large are true!. Certainly if I experienced what she experienced, I would leave too. The thing I’d like to emphasize is that we aren’t all experiencing that (and this is why we stay; we’re not suffering hopelessly). I would go as far as to say with confidence that hers is an extreme case.

I acknowledge that I’m coming from a position of good fortune here, surrounded by other fortunate people. And we have to be careful about survivor bias, absolutely. But let’s also be equally careful about making academia sound like a horror show. (I suspect that wasn’t your intent here! But could be interpreted that way maybe?)

Show threadDan GoodmanApr 6, 2024
@NicoleCRust I don't claim that everything that happened to her will or has happened to everyone, of course, but this stuff does happen and to be honest my impression from my own experiences, what I've been told by people I know, and from accounts I've read from people I don't know, is that it happens a lot. I don't think hers is actually an extreme case. And I think a lot worse happens too. What I don't want to do is give the impression that it's worse in academia than outside. I don't know enough to say whether that's true or not and I've heard some pretty hair raising stories from outside academia too, so a priori I've no reason to think it's better and wouldn't be at all surprised to find out it's worse.
Show threadNicole Rust

@neuralreckoning
These are great (and fair) points. And absolutely - there's a lot we need to fix (inside and out). 💯​

It's these points we need to focus on, I think (and not obscure them in the other "bullshit").

Apr 6, 2024 at 7:14pmWeb