"the very foundation of modern academia has been blown to bits" • Hacker News Board

Post by b112 » Sun, Aug 02, 2026, 6:04 PM UTC

jaybrendansmith wrote: post #80

b112 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of that is relevant without you, the person architecting the questions or the idea, being able to cogently convey this to others. If you cannot understand it enough to transfer the knowledge, or if you are incapable of expressing your inner voice enough to transfer the knowledge, it's all for not. That's one of the concepts this process is supposed to handle. Validation that you can transfer knowledge. Broken or…

Fair point when it comes to training a PhD, but the creation of the actual report is no measure of that. The oral presentation is, along with speaking opportunities and conferences perhaps. Perhaps there are other, more contemporary approaches that could be encouraged in the PhD process?

But the report is! Simply because some people don't value them, doesn't mean all institutions don't. And being able to convey information by text, is as important as the verbal part too. That may not be fashionable in some places now, but I recall being forced to take several english classes, as an engineer, on the premise that "being able to communicate is important".

I agree though, we'll have to look forward, not backwards to solve this.