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 threadUlrike Hahn
@NicoleCRust @neuralreckoning agreed. Loved her, loved the video. But it doesn’t reflect my experience either. It’s not that I haven’t encountered the challenges, it’s that they haven’t played out in the same way for me. That’s largely good fortune, but maybe also some different expectations as I experienced other professional environments prior to academia. Much of the bad stuff strikes me as not unique - we just expect academia to be better (and we should hold it to that!).
Apr 6, 2024 at 7:28pmWeb
Show threadNicole RustApr 6, 2024
@UlrikeHahn @neuralreckoning
This is a really insightful take!
Show threadUlrike HahnApr 6, 2024
@NicoleCRust @neuralreckoning no sooner had I watched the video and posted my comment that I scrolled on and found this https://synapse.cafe/@axoaxonic/112225621387460997
Holly A. Gultiano (@[email protected])

A lot of people are posting a video by Sabine Hossenfelder right now, and I'm not going to comment on the video or the points and discussion, but I wanted to post this video detailing her problematic views on trans issues, how she promoted (in a biased-centrist way) the harmful, TERF-associated, and unfounded view that gender affirming care for trans kids is a social contagion leading to "rapid onset of gender dysphoria," while making claims that transitioning before puberty is harmful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Kau7bO3Fw Also there's a line where she offhand belittles people who say early gender affirming care saves lives "Whether or not she meant to, she repeatedly used a misleading rhetorical device to elevate transphobic talking points to the same level as scientific evidence, and she did that in front of a very large audience"

Synapse Cafe
Show threadDan GoodmanApr 6, 2024
@UlrikeHahn @NicoleCRust sigh. 😞
Show threadDan GoodmanApr 6, 2024
@UlrikeHahn @NicoleCRust I should have known someone with a million YouTube followers would be problematic.
Show threadElio CampitelliApr 6, 2024
@UlrikeHahn @NicoleCRust @neuralreckoning I also think that she goes well beyond personal experience when she says things like "unlike academia, what I do now is honest work" or that most academic work is bullshit (as if most od everything that people do is not bullshit).