/sci/ - Science & Math

bump for anti-academia

Isn't it sad how absolutely no one gives a shit?

Have a free bump anyway.

There's a Science / Math board? WTF?

I see you're mad because you didn't get accepted to school OP

/Sci/ is assmad
[ ] not told
[x] told

>>2607623
I'm a PhD, try harder next time faggot

>>2607623
Sorry, I'm DOING a PhD. But you're still a faggot.

>>2607623
Getting accepted to school != career in academia

>>2607568
Im a finance major.

FEELS GOOD MAN.

Hi, I'm butthurt for some vague reason. I hope this just totally flipped your shit.

Does anyone have any horror stories about their research, like the ones in the blog?
About giving someone defective software on purpose or sabotaging their projects in any other way?

>over 10 years in grad school
stopped reading there

>>2607673
Where does it say that?

>So basically, if you are not cut for this kind of life, your chances are zero. I tried, believe me. I tried hard. What happened during my research career is that I spent 6 months on antidepressants, I got a permanent gastritis, I wasted at least two important sentimental relationships, and I found all my interests and social life going down the drain.
What a whiny faggot.

>>2607685
one of the cartoons. i said i stopped reading there, so i didnt check the caption

I read the whole thing.

Seriously guys, aside from the obvious cynicism and resentment towards the field from the guy who wrote the article, there is some truth to what he wrote. Science is hard work, and the higher up the academic ladder you climb, the harder it is going to get. It is stressful, frustrating work around the clock. The competition is ready to rip your throat out as soon as they have a chance. You have to give up everything. Going out more than once a week, not working on weekends, days where you get to go home early, long vacations, meeting that special person you've been waiting for, everything.

But you know what? It's worth it in the end. We the people who make this world a better place. The knowledge we create saves lives. It furthers humanity. Our greatest accomplishments as a species are because of us.

So go ahead and quit. Give up what you dream of. If you run, you might live, at least a while. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one cahnce, to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they will never take our FREEEDOOOOOOM!

>>2607693
That's from PhD comics.

>getting a life

Anything that contains these words is guaranteed to be shit.

>>2607658
I've never ever heard of something like that, and I trade software with other researchers all the time. He's exaggerating because he's, well, butthurt.

>>2607698
It may be a general trend, but it may be that a lot of research groups out there are better at destroying talent than nurturing it.
I happen to work for a great boss and have great colleagues, but I see people being 'abused' in other labs. 4 years of that kind of environment can really kill the joy of doing science.

>>2607698
The reason why I think this article is a bit stupid is because he singles out academia as a field in which bitter competition can fuck you over and rape your soul, even though this is true for virtually any career. His *real* issue is with cutthroat competition in general, not with academia.

seems like he failed quals and therefore ruined his life.

should have worked harder then.

>>2607709
You're right on that point. However, generally fields with fierce competition, such as high management positions etc. are jobs with huge pay-checks. Science is something you do out of, like he said, love for science and nothing else. Dealing with competition is one thing, but doing so out of pure necessity to stay alive is another.

That guy should just go to the private sector. Working conditions there are much better.

>mfw /sci/ is full of underaged faggots who have no idea what they're getting themselves into and will soon become disillusioned when they realize BAWWW BUT I THOUGHT SCIENCE WAS ALL SAGAN AND SMOKE WEED ERRY DAY AND CANDLE IN THE DARK AND ATHEISM AND HURRDURR DERP DERP BAWWWW

>>2607743

>>2607653

I feel for this guy. Academia never appealed to me for the very reasons he mentioned: cutthroat competition, terrible working hours, and dim job prospects.
I wish him the very best in his future endeavors.

>>2607743
Sounds like you are the one with a problem.

Disillusioned much?

>>2607709
>>2607785
>cutthroat competition
I've never understood why people feel so intimidated by this, if there are 1000 applicants for 1 position in some evil corporation or major university you're bound to lose but if you do you're just 1/7 billion other suckers who didn't get the job but you are 1000/7 billion who had the balls to try. If you have studied statistics for as long as me you should have a raging hard on just thinking about it.

I love this board.

I read his post until I encountered something I didn't agree with. The guy's obviously butthurt since his problems with academia aren't at all true. Let's call him a whiny faggot to prove how wrong he is!

>>2607809
gb2 bed OP

>>2607568
Nope

\thread

>>2607805
competition does not only apply to finding jobs, and your usage of statistics is so disingenuous it's simply wrong. Not all applicants have an equal chance of being accepted, and the entire population of the world did not apply for the position.

>>2607805
Ugh. You fail in statistics.

>>2607817
>>2607815
>>2607794
>>2607749
>>2607712
>>2607703
>>2607692
>>2607673
>>2607653
u all mad

Well...I'd have to agree with the article.
I know more then one post doc who travel back and forth to nerby countries (central europe) just to be able to do lectures.
Fishing for money is a major occupation in academia and working in a group with a famous scientist, one who is in the media for example, adds 300% live quality.
And you learned a field for 8 years and you still don't really get paid properly.
These points are just the way reality is.
sadface.m

Well, fuck.

Science is broken.

Engineering isn't like this, right? right?

An Economist article he linked to, with some interesting tidbits posted:

http://www.economist.com/node/17723223?story_id=17723223

One thing many PhD students have in common is dissatisfaction. Some describe their work as “slave labour”. Seven-day weeks, ten-hour days, low pay and uncertain prospects are widespread. You know you are a graduate student, goes one quip, when your office is better decorated than your home and you have a favourite flavour of instant noodle. “It isn’t graduate school itself that is discouraging,” says one student, who confesses to rather enjoying the hunt for free pizza. “What’s discouraging is realising the end point has been yanked out of reach.”
In research the story is similar. PhD students and contract staff known as “postdocs”, described by one student as “the ugly underbelly of academia”, do much of the research these days. There is a glut of postdocs too. Dr Freeman concluded from pre-2000 data that if American faculty jobs in the life sciences were increasing at 5% a year, just 20% of students would land one. In Canada 80% of postdocs earn $38,600 or less per year before tax—the average salary of a construction worker. The rise of the postdoc has created another obstacle on the way to an academic post. In some areas five years as a postdoc is now a prerequisite for landing a secure full-time job.

>>2607856
engineering is like this

Competition is fine, it's when people cheat that it turns to shit.

I don't want to deal with any kind of bullshit politics, but that shit seems fucking unavoidable. I'm nearing graduation, and no options available seem particularly appealing.

I just want to do research, but I'm barely smart enough, and far too naive and trusting to get anywhere. What do I do? Where can I go?

well I've messed it up even more cause before I started studying I've been in an apprenticeship which means I am already 3-4 years older then everyone around me

>>2607866
>I'm barely smart enough

Sounds like the problem isn't with acedemia, it's with you being a dumbfuck

>>2607876
I'm by no means stupid, and I reckon could get a PhD. The problem is I'm not exceptional, which it seems you have to be to be successful in research.

Why is /sci/ this arrogant? This guy or girl got a doctorate from Cambridge accomplished more than most of the posters here would and decides leaves academia, but not necessarily science or his or her technical skill and job prospects, and yet /sci/ still bags this person out. It really shows that either the people posting are a) delusional about their own abilities b) underage and/or naive c) assholes.

>>2607889
>The problem is I'm not exceptional, which it seems you have to be to be successful in research

FUCKING DURRRRR

You need to be really smart to do science research dumbshit.

>>2607893
>Check out my awesome appeal to authority.
The guy's accomplishments don't validate his position, nor do they shield him from critique.

Have an argument, please.

>>2607898
The critique (if you can call it that) in this thread seems to comprise of calling him a whiny faggot, butthurt or propping up strawmen.

>>2607896
Which you don't seem to be.

>>2607909
>The critique (if you can call it that) in this thread seems to comprise of calling him a whiny faggot, butthurt or propping up strawmen.
Which doesn't invalidate, let alone address my point at all. I was criticizing the poster's fallacious line of reasoning, not defending the critique in this thread.

>>2607909
But he is a whiny faggot, kinda like you

Yall related?

>>2607896
You have communication problems. Lrn2context.

I'm one of the top students in my class. So is every other Tom, Dick and Harry who is going to get a PhD. I could get one, but then I'd be just another fag with a graduate degree and nowhere to go after that.

If I had the cut-throat nature to compete in academia I'd have a chance, but as I said I'm far too naive.

>>2607914
R u 2 fuckin stupid to realize a troll thread?
You actually took the OP seriously? WTF?

>>2607915
Oooh, burn. Do you kiss your boyfriend with that mouth?

>>2607914
I was addressing the critique in this thread, and didn't take your post to be a defense of it. And simply pointing out fallacious reasoning does not an argument make.

>>2607919
>never even been to a college

>making up bullshit

You OP?

>>2607898

You must have poor reading comprehension skills because that wasn't an appeal to authority argument; at least if didn't completely miss the point and decide set up a strawman argument.

The problem is /sci/ has delusions of grandeur, expecting everyone to be an ultra-successful genius, berating anyone who isn't up to this ridiculous standard. The science portrayed and done here is very different to real academic science, and it only leads me to believe that the people here must be entry level or have really unlikable personalities to react in such a manner about a different person's career.

ITT: Raeg, trolls and ad hominems.

>>2607898
And wait, that wasn't an appeal to authority at all. You misconstrued his post

>>2607944
>expecting everyone to be an ultra-successful genius, berating anyone who isn't up to this ridiculous standard

Sounds good bro. It is not my fucking fault you are stupid. Maybe you should have majored in engineering or something.

>>2607944
Indeed. It's sad to see the vitriol spewed by the supposed masters of the universe on /sci/, even when they're downright challenged in the areas which are their expertise.

>>2607944
>upset cause he isn't smart enough

ITT: Underage /sci/tards feeling smug by insulting a former top scientist who had to quit because he felt depressed in his former position and had a family and life to tend to.

>>2607961
You're not being clever. Just stupid.

>>2607568
ITT: Dumbfucks bitch about how hard science is

>>2607969
But dude, I listen to Carl Sagan, post on /sci/ and watch Khan Academy lectures! Academia's going to be a cakewalk. And since I'm a social leper, I don't even have to ever worry about how it might impact my personal life!

>>2608002
The force is weak with this one.

>>2607930
>thinks being a freshmen in college gives him a better perspective of academic life than having a PhD and actually working in academia

>>2608006
I think that's just you.

>>2607967
>>2607984
>>2607961
Just shut up.

>greentext strawman

>any reply I want

ITT: bitches don't know about my tenure.