5 ms·

> "We are professors, busy between teaching and administrative work, so we rely on existing literature to come to conclusions" Is this really what academia is

> "We are professors, busy between teaching and administrative work, so we rely on existing literature to come to conclusions" Is this really what academia is like?

jsilence 5y ago
Usually the professors have a bunch of PhD students working on topics the prof specializes in. So yes and no.
mPReDiToR 5y ago
In the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov this exact meme is lampooned. A character describes how they went to the library, read all the old books, wrote a paper and called it new research. Dr Asimov may have seen the bleak future of academia, what with it being his other trade. Mayhap we need more Dr Indiana Jones types with tenure?
- andi999 5y ago
  Indiana Jones wouldn't get tenure, yes he found the ark of the covenant, but what did he find afterwards (which was delivered to the gov/museum?)
  - mcphage 5y ago
    The Cross of Coronado
  - daxfohl 5y ago
    Indiana Jones and the Street Snack of Bangalore. Kid getting ready to take bite of snack, then, "This belongs in a museum." Cue theme song.
    - andi999 5y ago
      Episode 5?
stinos 5y ago
Depends, mainly because 'academia' is far too broad of a term. For starters not all professors teach the same amount of hours (don't know all rules across all universities but there might very well be professors who do not teach at all but instead have PhD students do it, or post-docs). Professors which have anough funding can hire people for administrative work; though they'd still have to take care of getting funding usually whih is also a huge time sink. In some fields professors actually do practical work themselves, or are very close to it. Not all fields can realy on the same amount of literature-only studies. In some fields with novel research there might not even be literature to use. And so on.
momirlan 5y ago
I was struck by the same comment. Forgot to add that they get tenure by volume of papers, which exacerbates this farce.
rossdavidh 5y ago
Yes.
arduinomancer 5y ago
Read it in context They’re talking about a guy who wrote an encyclopedia, obviously he’s going to rely on sources and not personally go and visit every plant An encyclopedia is a summary
beowulfey 5y ago
As someone in academia… no. But I can’t speak for everyone and I am sure it varies by field.

> "We are professors, busy between teaching and administrative work, so we rely on existing literature to come to conclusions" Is this really what academia is like?

jsilence 5y ago

Usually the professors have a bunch of PhD students working on topics the prof specializes in. So yes and no.

mPReDiToR 5y ago

In the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov this exact meme is lampooned. A character describes how they went to the library, read all the old books, wrote a paper and called it new research. Dr Asimov may have seen the bleak future of academia, what with it being his other trade. Mayhap we need more Dr Indiana Jones types with tenure?

andi999 5y ago
Indiana Jones wouldn't get tenure, yes he found the ark of the covenant, but what did he find afterwards (which was delivered to the gov/museum?)
- mcphage 5y ago
  The Cross of Coronado
- daxfohl 5y ago
  Indiana Jones and the Street Snack of Bangalore. Kid getting ready to take bite of snack, then, "This belongs in a museum." Cue theme song.
  - andi999 5y ago
    Episode 5?

stinos 5y ago

Depends, mainly because 'academia' is far too broad of a term. For starters not all professors teach the same amount of hours (don't know all rules across all universities but there might very well be professors who do not teach at all but instead have PhD students do it, or post-docs). Professors which have anough funding can hire people for administrative work; though they'd still have to take care of getting funding usually whih is also a huge time sink. In some fields professors actually do practical work themselves, or are very close to it. Not all fields can realy on the same amount of literature-only studies. In some fields with novel research there might not even be literature to use. And so on.

momirlan 5y ago

I was struck by the same comment. Forgot to add that they get tenure by volume of papers, which exacerbates this farce.

rossdavidh 5y ago

Yes.

arduinomancer 5y ago

Read it in context They’re talking about a guy who wrote an encyclopedia, obviously he’s going to rely on sources and not personally go and visit every plant An encyclopedia is a summary

beowulfey 5y ago

As someone in academia… no. But I can’t speak for everyone and I am sure it varies by field.