4 ms·
The entire system of academia is horribly twisted mess of politics and inefficiency that creates competition at wrong the level (individual in their 20/30s rath
by marshallp 17y ago
The entire system of academia is horribly twisted mess of politics and inefficiency that creates competition at wrong the level (individual in their 20/30s rather than teams of people at whatever age).
Who got human genome mapped in three months - a team from private industry (it took academia 15 years and boatloads of cash)
Who got a car to autonomously drive through the desert - s team people motivated by a competition (academia hadn't managed to get it done before then)
The current academic system of well connected 'star' PI's who are 'geniuses' directing around masses of lesser 'grads/postdocs' is a scale of snobbery not seen anywhere but show business and politics. It should be feel disgusting to anyone who sincerely values science and human progress.
- foldr 17y agoI don't really get the point of your examples. No doubt one could also point to cases where academic researchers discovered something that industry didn't. And businesses also tend to have a hierarchical organization.
- marshallp 17y agoBusinessman live or die by their skill at picking talent. Bureacrats who fund science live and die by their skill at picked themselves. I'd trust the businessmen to get the job done. Monetary competitions like the X prize would get you scientific discoveries faster and cheaper than the current system, simply because you would have a businessman driving progress rather than studious scientist-cum-team leader (PI).
- foldr 17y agoAcademics aren't particularly beuracratic in my experience -- most of them hate doing paperwork. In any case, your views on this are obviously based on considering what "ought" to happen given your stereotypes, rather than looking at the facts. A vast amount of research gets done in academia.