4 ms·

Actually, I've been there and done that. There is a huge difference between the relevance of the problems people are officially targeting and the actual substan

Actually, I've been there and done that. There is a huge difference between the relevance of the problems people are officially targeting and the actual substance and relevance of the research being done. I've seen first-hand that even at top institutions the priority is to maximize PR, often based on number of papers published (in prestigious-sounding venues if and when possible) and to maximize rankings to attract more students and funding. The reality is that the incentive system is wrong. Impactful, long-term research is super hard to achieve like this.

throwawaygh 5y ago
Sounds like you washed out of a toxic lab and are now lashing out at some 20-something’s’ funny side projects.
- buitreVirtual 5y ago
  Not at all. I'm just being realistic.
  - throwawaygh 5y ago
    You're latching onto a set of kinda transparently obvious joke papers [1] written by clearly accomplished individuals [2] and claiming that the whole institution is rotten. You're not being realistic; you're being absurd -- literally using a bunch of April Fools Day jokes as evidence that all of academia is broken. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27909164 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27909164 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27911634 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27911634
  - buitreVirtual 5y ago
    Stop pretending this is about some kids. I'm talking about the system and culture today. A lot of academic research is broken and you can't pretend you don't see it. The main goal is to maximize metrics. Just look at many authors' publication lists that look like paper mills. Quantity over quality. Irreproducible results, bad study design, too many hidden variables, unrepresentative subjects. Unrealistic and oversimplistic assumptions. I've even served as subject of studies published in top venues, and I can tell that the study was a joke. It varies by the area, but this is present everywhere. Just one example: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124 https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/jo....
    - throwawaygh 5y ago
      Again, the context of this rant is a list of actually kinda funny jokes. Just wait until this guy hears about SIGBOVIK :)
      - buitreVirtual 5y ago
        The context of this rant by now is academic problems, not your attempts to distract from them.
        throwawaygh 5y ago
        My hill to die on: Don't be an ass. Let the 20 somethings olds working at a 150K discount for 50-60 hours a week have their funny April Fools jokes. They're probably working on their jokes on evenings and weekends anyways. Aside from that, IDK. I'm sorry you had some sort of negative experience, but I don't have time to engage with "all of academia is a scam" levels of crank. That sort of thing very much goes into my "p=np" inbox.

throwawaygh 5y ago

Sounds like you washed out of a toxic lab and are now lashing out at some 20-something’s’ funny side projects.

buitreVirtual 5y ago
Not at all. I'm just being realistic.
- throwawaygh 5y ago
  You're latching onto a set of kinda transparently obvious joke papers [1] written by clearly accomplished individuals [2] and claiming that the whole institution is rotten. You're not being realistic; you're being absurd -- literally using a bunch of April Fools Day jokes as evidence that all of academia is broken. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27909164 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27909164 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27911634 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27911634
- buitreVirtual 5y ago
  Stop pretending this is about some kids. I'm talking about the system and culture today. A lot of academic research is broken and you can't pretend you don't see it. The main goal is to maximize metrics. Just look at many authors' publication lists that look like paper mills. Quantity over quality. Irreproducible results, bad study design, too many hidden variables, unrepresentative subjects. Unrealistic and oversimplistic assumptions. I've even served as subject of studies published in top venues, and I can tell that the study was a joke. It varies by the area, but this is present everywhere. Just one example: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124 https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/jo....
  - throwawaygh 5y ago
    Again, the context of this rant is a list of actually kinda funny jokes. Just wait until this guy hears about SIGBOVIK :)
    - buitreVirtual 5y ago
      The context of this rant by now is academic problems, not your attempts to distract from them.
      - throwawaygh 5y ago
        My hill to die on: Don't be an ass. Let the 20 somethings olds working at a 150K discount for 50-60 hours a week have their funny April Fools jokes. They're probably working on their jokes on evenings and weekends anyways. Aside from that, IDK. I'm sorry you had some sort of negative experience, but I don't have time to engage with "all of academia is a scam" levels of crank. That sort of thing very much goes into my "p=np" inbox.