2 ms·

hmm, as a grad student a lot of this seems hugely hyperbolic to me "slaves at worst or indentured servants" is a rather harsh way to put it, it's not like you

hmm, as a grad student a lot of this seems hugely hyperbolic to me "slaves at worst or indentured servants" is a rather harsh way to put it, it's not like you can't quit your PhD (many people do this after getting their Masters, so the times spent in the program is not wasted). "gets massive benifits from having highly educated slaves producing intellectual property that can be sold and licensed" is again way overstating things. Very little of research is worth much as far as IP; in my 5 years as grad student I only know of one research project that resulted in a patent. The production of IP is much more of a thing in industry research, as would make sense. "The grad student of course gets no benifit from this." in CS (especially AI, where I work) this is not really true, doing research lets you get really good research positions in industry, even assuming you don't want to stick around in academia. Don't get me wrong, there is a ton wrong about academia/the grad student system. I really wish I was paid anything near my value on the job market. But I think your view is way too negative.

citizenpaul 5y ago
>I only know of one research project that resulted in a patent. You do realize that there is a large number of people that have only patented a handful of things and retired? They robbed that opportunity from you plain and simple. Universities patenting IP in the first place is inarguabley wrong . They are funded with tax dollars and have no right to the IP in the first place. At the very least all IP should be released into public domain, more ideally with right of first refusal to the grad students involved. I am only closely involved with people in the grad life not in it myself. I may be wrong as how bad the grad student thing is, no benefits is dramatic i suppose. However there is massive manipulation of young people inexperienced in negotiation involved, double so when there is no recourse after the fact like quitting/leaving/changing/moving. I hear and see endless things that make my skin crawl from grad friends and they are most definitely beting taken advantage of in power gap that is funded with tax dollars.

citizenpaul 5y ago

>I only know of one research project that resulted in a patent. You do realize that there is a large number of people that have only patented a handful of things and retired? They robbed that opportunity from you plain and simple. Universities patenting IP in the first place is inarguabley wrong . They are funded with tax dollars and have no right to the IP in the first place. At the very least all IP should be released into public domain, more ideally with right of first refusal to the grad students involved. I am only closely involved with people in the grad life not in it myself. I may be wrong as how bad the grad student thing is, no benefits is dramatic i suppose. However there is massive manipulation of young people inexperienced in negotiation involved, double so when there is no recourse after the fact like quitting/leaving/changing/moving. I hear and see endless things that make my skin crawl from grad friends and they are most definitely beting taken advantage of in power gap that is funded with tax dollars.