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> submit research papers to prestigious journals is not status seeking. Even if I have zero interest in status, sharing knowledge and/or getting feedback can b
by tokyodude 8y ago
> submit research papers to prestigious journals
is not status seeking. Even if I have zero interest in status, sharing knowledge and/or getting feedback can be the main and even only goal.
The same is true of many things. You can have a blog where your goal is to share something or get feedback, not to get status. You can usually tell the difference or at least I think I can. You can be an entertainer (actor, musician, writer, animator ...) and actually have your goal as entertaining people, not gaining status. Even photos. I share 5000+ photos on Flickr. They are all marked as CC-BY. I'm doing it to contribute and share, not to get status. If they ever became popular maybe that would change. Mostly I use them for myself and once or twice a year someone tells me they used one and that makes me happy. I don't feel it's increased my status.
I guess I don't agree with the author at all that effectively everything in life can be seen as status seeking
- sgillen 8y agoI think the key word when talking about status wrt to research is “prestige”. Just about everyone submitting to Nature I’m sure legitimately wants to share their knowledge and get feedback. But I’m sure they’re also really hoping they get this Nature publication accepted and that it gets cited because that’s a form of social status that is very good for their career (and hey honestly for most people I’m sure it makes them feel important, accomplished, and respected, too, all of which I would argue are at least partially social status). I do agree with you that not everything is accurately described just by social status, but it does explain a surprising amount human behavior, at least for me.