> The real merit of academia is that people can be alone in a corner doing one's work, if they choose to. Industry enforces socialisation, conformity to norms,

> The real merit of academia is that people can be alone in a corner doing one's work, if they choose to. Industry enforces socialisation, conformity to norms, and shmoozing. That's a bit dubious. If you don't network in the academia I doubt you can get far at all, while you can very well just comfortably do your job as a technical employee even if you are not really into networking (if you don't have further ambitions). Networking is absolutely essential to would-be professors or anybody who wants long-term stable employment in the academia, and the competition is much fiercer.