[deleted]
A PhD should be about improving society, not chasing academic kudos
21–30 of 220 posts
Re: A PhD should be about improving society, not chasing academic kudos
#22I think changing the PhD system is a great target, but how can you identify that as the culprit without changing the professoriate/tenure system?
Re: A PhD should be about improving society, not chasing academic kudos
#23Fourier or newton did not persue improving society, and they did.
Re: A PhD should be about improving society, not chasing academic kudos
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
I used to be in a math PhD program. Probably would still be if not for some life circumstance. I think it is worth taking a hard look at the value all of this mathematical research actually produces. I understand how number theory has been useful to cryptography. I understand how branches of pure math can have a surprising influence. But when these examples are given by pure mathematicians, it often strikes me as ane…
I can't argue for pure math. But atleast in applied areas such as pde a lot of the problems are motivated by real physical problems. To solve many of these would require theoretical breakthroughs I guess (cant be sure I dont have a phd). So perhaps funding pure math may not be such a bad idea.
I always find the example of PDEs interesting, depending on which mathematician you talk to PDEs could be anywhere from "as pure as it gets" to "extremely applied"
Re: A PhD should be about improving society, not chasing academic kudos
#25Great idea! Pay me for improving society rather than chasing academic kudos and I'll gladly spend my time doing that instead of writing grants and papers.
Re: A PhD should be about improving society, not chasing academic kudos
#26I don't understand how it's possible that a "social scientist" thinks that he has identified the great problem and its solution in every other academic discipline. Well, actually I do understand that, I've been around sociologists. I wonder if there's any chance that people that simply feel something about a tiny corner of the whole picture start speaking just for themselves. Maybe he's realized that his field is organized BS, but I don't think that makes a case for destroying modern science in order to build this society where laypersons decide what is worthwhile knowledge and what's not, in the newspapers. That's a great recipe for going back to those several centuries in which the rationale of doctorates was "improving society" as well.
Re: A PhD should be about improving society, not chasing academic kudos
#27I think changing the PhD system is a great target, but how can you identify that as the culprit without changing the professoriate/tenure system?
That system has already changed. Tenure tracks are largely phasing out as older professors retire. They are being replaced with part-time adjunct teaching positions, supplemented by big name researchers that bring in grant money and institutions can write marketing articles about. Those big names are not incentivized to stay by a tenure system, as they can easily accept positions at other institutions or in private industry to continue doing their research.
Re: A PhD should be about improving society, not chasing academic kudos
#28When you look at the stats, it’s hard not to conclude that the current PhD system is fundamentally broken. Mental health issues are rife: approximately one-third of PhD students are at risk of having or developing a psychiatric disorder like depression. The high level of dropouts is similarly worrying – and possibly another symptom of the same problem. Research suggests that on average 50% of PhD students leave gradu…
In Europe the norm is to do a Master after a Bachelor, some Master programmes are heavily research oriented and can give you a taste of what's to come if you choose to keep following that path. (I definitely agree with the point you're making, just pointing out that there are different possibilities)
Re: A PhD should be about improving society, not chasing academic kudos
#29How much of this argument should apply to more theoretical areas of research like pure mathematics?
I used to be in a math PhD program. Probably would still be if not for some life circumstance. I think it is worth taking a hard look at the value all of this mathematical research actually produces. I understand how number theory has been useful to cryptography. I understand how branches of pure math can have a surprising influence. But when these examples are given by pure mathematicians, it often strikes me as ane…
but isn't pure math research very cheap (compared to the cost of other scientific research) and therefore could still be cost-effective?
Re: A PhD should be about improving society, not chasing academic kudos
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't argue for pure math. But atleast in applied areas such as pde a lot of the problems are motivated by real physical problems. To solve many of these would require theoretical breakthroughs I guess (cant be sure I dont have a phd). So perhaps funding pure math may not be such a bad idea.
I always find the example of PDEs interesting, depending on which mathematician you talk to PDEs could be anywhere from "as pure as it gets" to "extremely applied"
I believe this demonstrates the spectrum of pde research. You have people from both ends contributing. Since functional analysis gets used a lot in pdes especially when dealing with weak solutions it would make sense that it appeals to be pure math folks. But once you find ways to construct viable test functions it becomes the basis for writing numerical schemes. So that appeals to the applief guys and of course once you have the numerical solution this can be used for engineering. This demonstrates a good pipeline for "consuming" science (of course assuming this pipeline is indeed correct). However take any component out and the value creation wont be that high. Perhaps finding more such pipelines for pure math woulf help evaluate its valur.