We currently produce far more PHD than "the system" can utilize, so I'd propose it would look like PHD/postdoc extended into retirement as a career as opposed t

We currently produce far more PHD than "the system" can utilize, so I'd propose it would look like PHD/postdoc extended into retirement as a career as opposed to theoretically being a very narrow academic pyramid. I wonder if admitting the system is defeated would result in fewer people being pushed into an already overcrowded system. Essentially the new system would be a vow of poverty and childlessness until retirement, rather than the existing system pretending a high paying job or tenured slot is just around the corner. You need a relationship with the uni profs such as a perma-phd or else they're worried about liability. I've found from a lifetime of screwing around that clear thought is necessary and an engineers eye for compromise. Your groundbreaking neo-fitbit probably revolves around code and having an ugly board full of parts, or at least it starts there, long before it needs a 3-d printer of little plastic parts.