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He was already obeying in advance before DOGE got there, but I guess that wasn't enough. I fear very bad news is coming.
by cozzyd 2y ago
He was already obeying in advance before DOGE got there, but I guess that wasn't enough. I fear very bad news is coming.
- strangeloops85 2y agoI have to wonder what DOGE (including the alleged wunderkind Farritor that all the SV VCs were hailing) is planning for NSF. It’s amazing the arrogance of these people, to walk in and just do “hulk smash” on decades of hard work, infrastructure and institutional capacity.
- warkdarrior 2y agoIt's fairly straightforward really. Academics will work on whatever grant topics are available, most will do anything for money, so expect lots of grants on topics directly benefiting X.ai, Tesla, Neuralink, or SpaceX.
- Ar-Curunir 2y agoThere's multiple reasons why what you said is just wrong. First, if academics wanted to work on topics mandated by somebody else, they would go work in industry for that somebody, and earn much more money than they earn right now. Second, most academic scientists do not do anything relevant to Musk's companies. Do you expect a chemist to pivot to self-driving cars? Or a pure mathematician to whatever X.ai is doing? The only thing this will lead to is a destruction of American capacity to carry out independent scientific research.
- timschmidt 2y ago> First, if academics wanted to work on topics mandated by somebody else, they would go work in industry for that somebody, and earn much more money than they earn right now. Very few academics become principle investigators. Most every academic who's not a PI is working on something for that PI.
- jltsiren 2y agoThe vast majority of those working for a PI are students and postdocs, which are inherently trainee positions. Though, depending on the field and the PI, trainees may also have plenty of freedom to work on their own topics. If you want an actual career in the academia, the main options are becoming a PI or choosing a teaching-focused position. There are some staff scientists and similar, but such positions are rarer than tenured professors.
- timschmidt 2y ago> postdocs > inherently trainee positions Do we live on the same planet? I understand that the point of being an academic is to always be learning, but there's no place on earth I know of that thinks of someone with a PhD as a trainee. > the main options are becoming a PI or choosing a teaching-focused position. There are some staff scientists and similar, but such positions are rarer than tenured professors. Implying that one gets a choice is bold. My understanding is that there's a job for about 1 in 10 postdocs in academia these days.
- jltsiren 2y agoA postdoc is a training position, where the individual further develops their skills and tries to build an independent profile while being mentored by a more senior academic. PhDs who work in someone else's projects without focusing as much on personal development typically have other job titles, such as project scientist or staff scientist. Receiving a doctorate does not mean that you have finished your training. Some countries have habilitations or higher doctorates, which can be understood as more formal versions of postdoctoral training. Medical doctors are expected to specialize and receive more training as residents. Other fields have similar arrangements, some more and others less formal. If a full career is 50 years and the job requires a high degree of specialization, it can make sense to use the first ~15 years for training.
- timschmidt 2y agoThe number of academics who achieve a 50 year career is vanishingly small. I can think of a handful I met in a decade. To call the other 99.9% of academia in-training is a bit of a mis-nomer, whether it's the accepted terminology or not. That was my point.
- eli_gottlieb 2y agoIf you cut the grant-funding available by half, we will not, in fact, work on topics benefiting your company.
- pseudalopex 2y agoHalf won't at least.
- codezero 2y agohaving received NSF grants, this isn't how it works.