Dan GoodmanIf 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.
Louis Chartrand
Mario Angst