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> you can do science as a hobby in your spare time for free or up to your chosen budget Not in many fields/subfields, unless "chosen budget" is some unattainab
by wasabi991011 1y ago
> you can do science as a hobby in your spare time for free or up to your chosen budget
Not in many fields/subfields, unless "chosen budget" is some unattainable amount of disposable income.
Most people who want to do science have a specific field they are interested in. Your proposal is fine for theoreticians (and some computationalists, depending on the compute they require), but not many others.
- wbl 1y agoBiology can be studied by observing outside in any park.
- acdha 1y agoThis is like saying you can study CS using pen and paper. It’s possible for certain rare edge cases but absolutely nobody is going through the process of applying for grants if they don’t need the money to work on the problems they’ve specialized for. People in the past were just as smart and motivated so the low-hanging fruit is gone.
- linguae 1y agoEven for fields that can be done entirely with pen and paper, grad students and postdocs don't work for free, and often the only way a professor can keep up with a research university's publication expectations is to hire grad students and postdocs to contribute to research. Grants help pay for their stipends. Additionally, there are many universities that require their professors to raise grant money as a condition of tenure, since grant money is a significant source of revenue for research universities.