> Both fields embrace a sort of masochism and active desire to keep knowledge impenetrable b/c it acts as a mechanism to feed out the dummies. The system acts a

> Both fields embrace a sort of masochism and active desire to keep knowledge impenetrable b/c it acts as a mechanism to feed out the dummies. The system acts an an informal IQ test - that maintains the prestige of the departments. If you're pigheaded and clever enough to get through the masochistic torture is that their undergrad textbooks then you're probably pretty clever and so the prestige of the degrees is maintained. In a twist of irony anyone could have predicted: this selects for the middle of the bell curve, and not the right-hand tail. I feel as though there are a set of personality qualities that must not be present in order to achieve anything worthwhile. Wasting time, frivolous activities, and fostering an outsized ego are just a few.