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Young, talented and fed-up: scientists tell their stories

nature.com

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Re: Young, talented and fed-up: scientists tell their stories

#71

Post by letitgo12345 »

nonbel wrote: post #2

I would say "stay as far away from academic research as you possibly can" is the best advice someone can get these days. It is an awful, stressful waste of the prime of your life. From what I saw in biomed only 1/10,000 or so will end up with the time, skills, and appropriately ambitious project to allow a decent job to get done. The rest will be forced to produce BS (literally, most of it is just misinformation at t…

I really really wish people would separate advice by field rather than unfairly tarnish all of academic research with an incredibly broad brush. I'm a PhD in CS and while a lot of results are incremental, there is far far far less BS than in biomed from what I've heard.

Re: Young, talented and fed-up: scientists tell their stories

#72

Post by timr »

kayhi wrote: post #8

In the HN spirit, where's the opportunity? How can we help improve the life of researchers? Start ups trying to help: Science Exchange (YCS11) https://www.scienceexchange.com/ : outsource parts of your research to companies Instrumentl (YCS16) https://www.instrumentl.com/ : identify and push relevant grants towards applicable research Experiment (YCW13) https://experiment.com/ : crowdfunding platform for scientific r…

As a former scientist, current startup person: please stop. This is crass. Startups that sell services to scientists aren't helping with the fundamental problem (i.e. there aren't many jobs, and there isn't enough funding once you have a job). Crowdfunding is nice in theory, but just makes the problem of vanity science worse than it is right now. Crowds don't know shit about science.

If you want to help researchers, vote for people who will increase scientific funding. Much of this crunch is directly attributable to congressional budgetary cutbacks since the early 2000s:

http://www.faseb.org/portals/2/images/opa/Factsheet_Restore-...

(Oh also: encourage your local billionaire(s) to stop funding ridiculous vanity projects, and do scientific good by giving grants to researchers who are already doing peer-reviewed work. Or just encourage them to give their money to the organizations that exist and do a great job of this, like HHMI, or the Gates Foundation. How refreshing it would be to hear a nouveau riche Silicon Valley dudebro stand up and say: "I want my money to have the tiniest chance of curing cancer in my lifetime -- a task so impossibly large that even my vast wealth and gigantic ego cannot possibly tackle it alone -- so I'm making a massive charitable donation to the National Cancer Institute!" Alas...)

Re: Young, talented and fed-up: scientists tell their stories

#73

Post by dredmorbius »

siddarthd2919 wrote: post #50
jawilson2 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you aren't downvoted for this, as this is basically my exact thought process for the last few years. > make rich people richer It is prop trading, so we are making ourselves richer, technically. We do a lot of charity work and donations with schools, etc. > Doesn't it feel like a waste of your talents Absolutely. However, I also like not having to beg my toddler to eat the food in front of him because payday i…

The cost of education (Fees) are going higher. Research/Researchers are not getting funded. Where is the money going to? Infrastructure of the universities?

You've got an incomplete model of higher-education financing, leaving out subsidies provided by government.

For the most part, both increased tuition and falling research grants are symptoms of the same underlying cause: reduced government support for higher education and R&D.

With fewer funds for education, tuition rises. But that tuition is filling in the hole created by a subsidy gap. Not increased research.

Re: Young, talented and fed-up: scientists tell their stories

#75

Post by dredmorbius »

aswanson wrote: post #43
JDiculous wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't it feel like a waste of your talents to have society employing you full-time to make rich people richer via gambling in the financial markets rather than something more beneficial to society? I don't blame you at all (I'm sure your quality of life is magnitudes of order better, and I'd do the same in your position) and this isn't personal at all, it just pains me that our brightest graduates are working in fi…

The market set a cost in payoff in terms of quality of life and remuneration for both roles. He made the rational choice for himself and his family. Also, there are former financial engineers like David Shaw that have taken their earnings to literally try to cure cancer.

One might argue that the market fails to price (and compensate) information goods efficiently or accurately.

http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~hal/Papers/japan/japan.h...

Re: Young, talented and fed-up: scientists tell their stories

#76

Post by dredmorbius »

eanzenberg wrote: post #51
reverend_gonzo wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you ever feel that maybe you shouldn't talk about things you don't understand? Working a prop trading firm is nowhere near "making rich people richer via gambling in the financial markets". Furthermore, the majority of software/engineering jobs out there are not doing "something more beneficial to society". How many companies are really just ad-driven, marketing-driven. Yes, it would be nice if the entire world co…

Yes!!! You will undoubtedly make a greater impact by earning as much as you can and donating it to causes later in life. Some people think research or science is the only path to a better society but in all honesty it may just take paying people in a poor country to plant trees.

Linus Torvalds. Richard Stallman. Martin Luther King, Jr. Nikola Tesla. Dr. John Snow.

Re: Young, talented and fed-up: scientists tell their stories

#77

Post by whenwillitstop »

fsloth wrote: post #58
whenwillitstop wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this thought process is pure brainwashing by the left

Why is wishing for a world where it would be better to help eradicate suffering rather than work to accumulate imaginary play chips bad?

Because that idea is a fantasy, it has never come to fruition and never will. Progress is made through real incentives. Wouldnt it be nice if nobody stole from eachother? Sounds great doesnt it? Then why doesnt it happen?

The play chips are not imaginary, the rich have better lives in almost all aspects.

Re: Young, talented and fed-up: scientists tell their stories

#78

Post by aswanson »

dredmorbius wrote: post #75
aswanson wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The market set a cost in payoff in terms of quality of life and remuneration for both roles. He made the rational choice for himself and his family. Also, there are former financial engineers like David Shaw that have taken their earnings to literally try to cure cancer.

One might argue that the market fails to price (and compensate) information goods efficiently or accurately. http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~hal/Papers/japan/japan.h...

I'd agree with that. I don't believe in the efficient market hypothesis. The "market" given his limited information, professorship salary, and the compensation offered him to do other work clearly showed a large spread which he was rational to exploit.

I also believe society as a whole is being shortsighted in creating such a wide spread, but its not within his power to correct it; it's societies failure to think long term and his duty is to his family first.

Re: Young, talented and fed-up: scientists tell their stories

#79

Post by sseagull »

siddarthd2919 wrote: post #50
jawilson2 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you aren't downvoted for this, as this is basically my exact thought process for the last few years. > make rich people richer It is prop trading, so we are making ourselves richer, technically. We do a lot of charity work and donations with schools, etc. > Doesn't it feel like a waste of your talents Absolutely. However, I also like not having to beg my toddler to eat the food in front of him because payday i…

The cost of education (Fees) are going higher. Research/Researchers are not getting funded. Where is the money going to? Infrastructure of the universities?

> Where is the money going to?

That's the big question. In addition, when a professor gets a grant, the university takes a large chunk (40-60%) for overhead.

Anecdote: When I started as a postdoc recently, all new faculty and staff had orientation together. This was the middle of the semester, and there were about 20-25 of us. Of that group, there were no new professors (beginning of semester, wouldn't be unusual), 2-3 postdocs, maybe 5 facilities people (janitor, electrician, etc). Everyone else was administration/communication/finance/etc.

Universities, particularly large ones, are very, very, top heavy (with part of that due to compliance with regulations).

Re: Young, talented and fed-up: scientists tell their stories

#80

Post by jawilson2 »

brohee wrote: post #70
siddarthd2919 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of education (Fees) are going higher. Research/Researchers are not getting funded. Where is the money going to? Infrastructure of the universities?

Head coaches salaries ( http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/ )

Athletic departments are usually completely self-funded, especially the ones that spend millions per year on coach salaries.
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