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There aren’t meaningful disagreements in many disciplines as those who disagree and are smart are selected out of a field. There’s too much academic labor comi

by jwie 4y ago

There aren’t meaningful disagreements in many disciplines as those who disagree and are smart are selected out of a field. There’s too much academic labor coming into any field so there’s always some useful idiot rather than a brilliant opponent to recruit. They’re not going to structure their work to make it clear since obfuscation is more useful to the status quo.

SantalBlush 4y ago
>There aren’t meaningful disagreements in many disciplines as those who disagree and are smart are selected out of a field. This trope needs to die. There are major competing theories in pretty much every academic discipline. The claim is so ignorant and baseless that I think less of this site every time I see it come up. It is the HN version of a shitpost. We get it, you don't like academia. To be honest, there's a lot to dislike. But please, for the love of god, stop writing this low-effort nonsense on a site that is meant to have users who actually use their brains.
- jwie 4y ago
  Yes there are competing theories, but these disagreements are only of degree not kind. I said no meaningful disagreements. I lived through this, and there are probably more than a few post-academics around here who know what I'm talking about. We tried and discovered for all their prattling about being anti-status quo and counter-whatever, they are really quite interested in suppressing ideas, and are stuck in the past. In the humanities you're stuck with some flavor of critical theory. If you're not on board with that at a fundamental level, no tenure, no advisor, no papers; the end. In the sciences, physics for instance. Don't like string theory? Did you want to be a non theoretical physicist? Sorry, no room for competition around here for the inane bullshit that can't even be wrong. No grant money. No experiments either. Those might prove it all wrong. There's no room for change or growth in the modern academy because it's been captured by hucksters and charlatans who are at least cunning enough to keep out the competition.
  - SantalBlush 4y ago
    Since you haven't defined what "meaningful" is in this context or why it matters, this is impossible to engage with. It's a complaint that is intentionally vague so it can't be contradicted. No thanks.

by jwie 4y ago

SantalBlush 4y ago

>There aren’t meaningful disagreements in many disciplines as those who disagree and are smart are selected out of a field. This trope needs to die. There are major competing theories in pretty much every academic discipline. The claim is so ignorant and baseless that I think less of this site every time I see it come up. It is the HN version of a shitpost. We get it, you don't like academia. To be honest, there's a lot to dislike. But please, for the love of god, stop writing this low-effort nonsense on a site that is meant to have users who actually use their brains.

jwie 4y ago
Yes there are competing theories, but these disagreements are only of degree not kind. I said no meaningful disagreements. I lived through this, and there are probably more than a few post-academics around here who know what I'm talking about. We tried and discovered for all their prattling about being anti-status quo and counter-whatever, they are really quite interested in suppressing ideas, and are stuck in the past. In the humanities you're stuck with some flavor of critical theory. If you're not on board with that at a fundamental level, no tenure, no advisor, no papers; the end. In the sciences, physics for instance. Don't like string theory? Did you want to be a non theoretical physicist? Sorry, no room for competition around here for the inane bullshit that can't even be wrong. No grant money. No experiments either. Those might prove it all wrong. There's no room for change or growth in the modern academy because it's been captured by hucksters and charlatans who are at least cunning enough to keep out the competition.
- SantalBlush 4y ago
  Since you haven't defined what "meaningful" is in this context or why it matters, this is impossible to engage with. It's a complaint that is intentionally vague so it can't be contradicted. No thanks.