4 ms·

Competition in academia is so vicious because the stakes are so small. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayre%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayre%27s_law

bowsamic 3y ago
But the stakes aren’t low in academia, you can have your career destroyed by a bad couple of years…
- cmdli 3y ago
  I think the quote is referring to the stakes of the underlying decision being made, not necessarily the stakes of the politics. Academics will argue in great detail about trivialities and those trivialities can decide careers.
- Almondsetat 3y ago
  Just go work in the industry, this obsession with staying forever in the ivory tower is perplexing
  - bowsamic 3y ago
    Most PhDs are not able to be competitive in the job market
    - odyssey7 3y ago
      A friend recently gave up a career in which his very soul was bound but which had kept him impoverished and struggling, always having to navigate churn to afford to live. He works in a call center now, and he’s so much less depressed that it’s like he’s a different person.
      - bowsamic 3y ago
        I mean that's great but honestly if you're a PhD or postdoc, being told that working in a call centre is better for you is hardly an encouraging thought. In fact, it would bring great shame to most people from their families.
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
- willcipriano 3y ago
  Don't these careers pay pretty low, especially for the level of education? I always assumed that was the low stakes part. Its like making game-of-thrones-esque will-to-power moves at your McDonalds job. After a victory in a vicious trial by combat: "To your knees, I now dub you assistant manager of McDonalds store #1263245, your pay now raises two and a half percent and you get to park a little closer to the building."
  - bowsamic 3y ago
    No, I get paid very competitively here in Germany
jltsiren 3y ago
Those two are unrelated. Academic politics involve mostly those who have already won. Competition is fierce in the academia, because many people find academic research inherently interesting, but there is only money to employ a small fraction of them.
- readyman 3y ago
  >Competition is fierce in the academia, because many people find academic research inherently interesting Why do we keep telling ourselves that profit is the only way to motivate competition? It is a lie. >there is only money to employ a small fraction of them But there is plenty of money for profit? The dictates of our society are beginning to sound like a bunk academic paper.

bowsamic 3y ago

But the stakes aren’t low in academia, you can have your career destroyed by a bad couple of years…

cmdli 3y ago
I think the quote is referring to the stakes of the underlying decision being made, not necessarily the stakes of the politics. Academics will argue in great detail about trivialities and those trivialities can decide careers.
Almondsetat 3y ago
Just go work in the industry, this obsession with staying forever in the ivory tower is perplexing
- bowsamic 3y ago
  Most PhDs are not able to be competitive in the job market
  - odyssey7 3y ago
    A friend recently gave up a career in which his very soul was bound but which had kept him impoverished and struggling, always having to navigate churn to afford to live. He works in a call center now, and he’s so much less depressed that it’s like he’s a different person.
    - bowsamic 3y ago
      I mean that's great but honestly if you're a PhD or postdoc, being told that working in a call centre is better for you is hardly an encouraging thought. In fact, it would bring great shame to most people from their families.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
willcipriano 3y ago
Don't these careers pay pretty low, especially for the level of education? I always assumed that was the low stakes part. Its like making game-of-thrones-esque will-to-power moves at your McDonalds job. After a victory in a vicious trial by combat: "To your knees, I now dub you assistant manager of McDonalds store #1263245, your pay now raises two and a half percent and you get to park a little closer to the building."
- bowsamic 3y ago
  No, I get paid very competitively here in Germany

jltsiren 3y ago

Those two are unrelated. Academic politics involve mostly those who have already won. Competition is fierce in the academia, because many people find academic research inherently interesting, but there is only money to employ a small fraction of them.

readyman 3y ago
>Competition is fierce in the academia, because many people find academic research inherently interesting Why do we keep telling ourselves that profit is the only way to motivate competition? It is a lie. >there is only money to employ a small fraction of them But there is plenty of money for profit? The dictates of our society are beginning to sound like a bunk academic paper.