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Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)

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Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)

#161

Post by [deleted] »

theGnuMe wrote: post #157
tnecniv wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was still a PhD student, my advisor lamented that he couldn’t find postdocs to hire because big tech was paying them more for the same role with minimal constraints. If that kept going for a while, I imagine it’d put pressure on at least some parts of academia (CS and engineering don’t expect you to do a series of postdocs like biology does, and pure math has their own system of seniority I only know a little…

We are in the big science phase of biology using AI. Individual labs and researchers will be hard pressed to compete but the worse part is the lack of original thinking.

[deleted]

Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)

#162

Post by Warwolt »

hathawsh wrote: post #16

While this passage is inspiring, it boils down to: 1. Get good at something 2. Get paid for doing it 3. Get burned out by doing it 4. Return to the fun way of doing it 5. ??? 6. Win a Nobel prize or similar How repeatable is that pattern? Is that one of the patterns we want to teach the next generation? Serious question. I don't know the answer. Feynman is obviously rather exceptional. Should we encourage people to f…

I don't think that's the point of the text.

You can just as easily read it as stating that you should allow yourself to be led by what inspires you or interests you in your field of work, and not to try to produce notable results directly, but rather allow notable results follow from just passionately exploring.

Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)

#163

Post by Warwolt »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #91
hathawsh wrote: post #16

While this passage is inspiring, it boils down to: 1. Get good at something 2. Get paid for doing it 3. Get burned out by doing it 4. Return to the fun way of doing it 5. ??? 6. Win a Nobel prize or similar How repeatable is that pattern? Is that one of the patterns we want to teach the next generation? Serious question. I don't know the answer. Feynman is obviously rather exceptional. Should we encourage people to f…

I we replace the Nobel prize part with some sort of accomplishment, this is largely the pattern that lead up to my own building an internet search engine. Though I think it's pretty dodgy career advice. Existential crises are harrowing. It's a dark pit you fumble through for years. 1/5 stars on trip advisor.

Marginalia is great! Super cool tool

Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)

#164

Post by mtekman »

borroka wrote: post #62
tnecniv wrote: post #13

As a researcher, I’ve felt largely the same way lately. It’s been hard for me to even wrap up a project I was so excited about when I started it that I missed sleep because I was that engaged. Unfortunately, I don’t have a cozy tenure position at a major research institution to ride out the burnout until I feel inspired again. I’m just a lowly postdoc. I’ve thought about leaving the research life for a regular job, b…

> First, there’s not really other jobs I’d rather do. I suspect there are many jobs you would do, but you have to allow yourself to let go of the dreams, the ambitions, the identity you have built in academia. A few years ago, almost seven, I decided to leave academia, after a PhD and many years as a post doc, more than 50 journal papers published, awards and recognition in my field. I loved doing research, writing p…

> I started interviewing for positions in (tech) industry, got a monetary offer 5 times what I was making as a senior postdoc, started a new career, and never looked back.

Hello, I'm in a similar sort of transition position. May I ask where you applied (US/UK/EU-based?) and what your main experience was in adapting your academic CV to industry?

(Feel free to reach me by email or matrix too)

Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)

#165

Post by sirpilade »

dexwiz wrote: post #64
tnecniv wrote: post #13

As a researcher, I’ve felt largely the same way lately. It’s been hard for me to even wrap up a project I was so excited about when I started it that I missed sleep because I was that engaged. Unfortunately, I don’t have a cozy tenure position at a major research institution to ride out the burnout until I feel inspired again. I’m just a lowly postdoc. I’ve thought about leaving the research life for a regular job, b…

I think there is a kind of grief associated with growing up that people don’t talk about. When you are young and inspired it seems like life is long and you can do anything, branching paths with unlimited doors. Once you're an adult, your past choices narrow down your future paths, and your sense of age starts to set in. In some way you mourn the paths not taken. This is called mortality, and can be a nasty combo wit…

I totally agree with your comment. I should add that, as the Romans used to say quite some time ago, 'Audentes fortuna juvat' (fortune favors the bold). With this I mean to say that some more optimistic and unmindful attitude usually helps in finding those doors, or at least in forgetting the ones that did not eventually open.

Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)

#166

Post by kelipso »

Aeolun wrote: post #146
thefaux wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before I left academia, I felt that I would be a terrible failure. The people I was surrounded by looked at leaving the academy as a sad admission of defeat. In retrospect, I think this was largely a reflection of their own insecurity and lack of perspective because most had never been outside of the academic bubble. Life on the outside is different. Having been gone over a decade, there are some things I miss and th…

It’s quite telling that you never see people in industry long for their time in academia.

I certainly do. Plenty of people do.

Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)

#167

Post by aleph_minus_one »

godelski wrote: post #160
aleph_minus_one wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First, a postdoc on the way out of academia is not going to fix academia. I disagree: just found an edtech startup for tertiary education or (post-)graduate level research.

Honestly if I knew how to do this I would do it. How do I convince a bunch of billionaires to hand me money to do very fundamental research? Dream would be to have it be very open too and hire people from multiple domains but keep a high focus on being nuance and detail oriented. Honestly, I don't think companies like OpenAI are going to end up being the first to AGI because they get caught in the profit stages and s…

> Honestly if I knew how to do this I would do it.

Do an MVP in your spare time.

I guess if you have a normal programming job in most countries (even in countries where programmers are not paid that well), you will likely be able to pay the bills for, say, server renting, domains, ...

For things that you will do likely badly by yourself like design drafts (if you are bad at visual design), ask some friends whether they would be willing to do it for you in exchange for something that you could do for them (so that you don't have to spend money).

Start with kinds of research that can be done with little money, but have a possible insanely high impact.

Iterate until your platform cannot be ignored anymore.

Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)

#168

Post by rochak »

juancn wrote: post #111

It's the quintessential hard problem solving strategy. It works on many hard disciplines, and it boils down to two steps: 1- Obsess 2- Let Go Step two is the hardest one, but it's the most fruitful one and you really have to let go, no cheating. Once you do, for some reason your mind will use everything from step one in the background to find the solution, in a weird moment, in an effortless manner. But if you don't…

Happened to me today. Always works but can never be controlled :)

Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)

#169

Post by aleph_minus_one »

godelski wrote: post #133
tnecniv wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was still a PhD student, my advisor lamented that he couldn’t find postdocs to hire because big tech was paying them more for the same role with minimal constraints. If that kept going for a while, I imagine it’d put pressure on at least some parts of academia (CS and engineering don’t expect you to do a series of postdocs like biology does, and pure math has their own system of seniority I only know a little…

I literally went through this recently with someone in my department. They wanted to know what professors did similar research to me at R1 universities of comparable rank. I told them no one and they didn't believe me. I sent them an annotated version of a bibliography to a survey paper I had recently written, writing down where each person worked. I just don't think they understand that right now, as an intern for a…

> I'm being asked to do things that have never been done before -- and I love this, it is the ultimate puzzle -- but how the fuck do you expect me to give accurate ETAs and to do this 3-5 times a year and launch ground breaking work with some 2080Ti nodes and maybe one A100 node?

If it is work that some industry is highly interested in, and this industry has deep pockets, it is very hard to compete with it in academia. Look for more fundamental questions to research (there exist insanely many, just don't follow the hype) that can be investigated with a lot less ressources.

Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)

#170

Post by gen220 »

htss2013 wrote: post #134
gen220 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In bureaucracies like this, the fish inenvitably rots from the head. The people who offer the faculty positions are incompetent or indifferent. And the people who hired those people are incompetent or indifferent. As such, it's a mess that literally can't be solved from within, it needs to be solved by the administration, and the boards who appoint them. The tenure system means it'll take generations to resolve. Acad…

What do you mean by eugenics? That academics studied eugenics? Or that eugenics was widely popular among academics? I guess the pendulum always swings to the extreme other direction. Today, the more disadvantaged your intersectional identity, the better your prospects in academia.

That eugenics was widely popular among academics, especially in certain disciplines like Psychology (the founding members of the APA were all eugenicists).

As an example I'm familiar with, the first generations of academics at Stanford University were socially-active eugenicists (see the founding President, David Starr Jordan, who hired people like Ellwood Cubberley and Lewis Terman).

Many buildings, awards, dorms, department chairs are still named after these people.

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