4 ms·

As if the whole anti-intellectual hunt wasn’t enough, now PhD is a category implying holder of rote-knowledge at the highest level. I guess it is hopeless to f

As if the whole anti-intellectual hunt wasn’t enough, now PhD is a category implying holder of rote-knowledge at the highest level. I guess it is hopeless to fight this, but a PhD is 100x more about the apprenticeship and real-world training as a scientist than any accumulated knowledge beyond ones prior training. I know this is a rant, sorry, just so tired of the stupidity.

mlinhares 2y ago
There’s no multibillion dollar business if they can’t say everyone will be replaced by their models.
DiscourseFan 2y ago
PhD students aren't necessarily the brightest (which is probably why many of them don't end up with tenure), but studying something at the graduate level does open your eyes to a particular kind of knowledge which is generally unavailable otherwise. So, yes, of course the work is more important than the credential, but the credential often stands in for the work that gives that knowledge.
- klipt 2y ago
  > which is probably why many of them don't end up with tenure There are far fewer tenure track positions than PhD's, so most of them not ending up with tenure is tautologically guaranteed.
  - DiscourseFan 2y ago
    Well yes but it should be hard to get a tenure either way
atrettel 2y ago
This is also a bit of a pet peeve of mine too. I surely learned a lot of "knowledge" during my PhD, but really what makes me an expert in my subject is less my ability to rattle off facts but 1. my ability to reason and understand the subject after a lot of experience working in it, and 2. the skills that I picked up during my PhD and afterwards. I can really only "know" so much, but the skills that I developed help me get the right information without having to "know" it directly --- either by searching the literature, running a calculation or simulation, or performing an experiment. There are a lot of things that I have difficulty remembering but I only "know" them because I remember how to derive them and where they come from, etc. That's one of the reasons that I don't like the assertion that this model has ingested all of this knowledge and it is now an expert, because expertise goes beyond having knowledge. It's about developing a deeper understanding of a subject that only comes from actively engaging with it for a long time.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

mlinhares 2y ago

There’s no multibillion dollar business if they can’t say everyone will be replaced by their models.

DiscourseFan 2y ago

PhD students aren't necessarily the brightest (which is probably why many of them don't end up with tenure), but studying something at the graduate level does open your eyes to a particular kind of knowledge which is generally unavailable otherwise. So, yes, of course the work is more important than the credential, but the credential often stands in for the work that gives that knowledge.

klipt 2y ago
> which is probably why many of them don't end up with tenure There are far fewer tenure track positions than PhD's, so most of them not ending up with tenure is tautologically guaranteed.
- DiscourseFan 2y ago
  Well yes but it should be hard to get a tenure either way

atrettel 2y ago

This is also a bit of a pet peeve of mine too. I surely learned a lot of "knowledge" during my PhD, but really what makes me an expert in my subject is less my ability to rattle off facts but 1. my ability to reason and understand the subject after a lot of experience working in it, and 2. the skills that I picked up during my PhD and afterwards. I can really only "know" so much, but the skills that I developed help me get the right information without having to "know" it directly --- either by searching the literature, running a calculation or simulation, or performing an experiment. There are a lot of things that I have difficulty remembering but I only "know" them because I remember how to derive them and where they come from, etc. That's one of the reasons that I don't like the assertion that this model has ingested all of this knowledge and it is now an expert, because expertise goes beyond having knowledge. It's about developing a deeper understanding of a subject that only comes from actively engaging with it for a long time.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]