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Tom White's avatar

Well said. The incentives of the academic industrial complex have gone all topsy turvy. Opportunistic incrementalism to further careers has subsumed meaningful innovation to further science. Thomas More’s words in A Man for All Seasons come to mind: “We must just pray that when [the] head's finished turning [the] face is to the front again.”

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Sugarpine Press's avatar

With respect to: (2) everyone thinks everyone else does this unmotivated work—their own work is deep and theoretically grounded—and so nobody will think I’m talking about them.

Moved from private sector and spent some time working in government - everyone seemed to acknowledge (with wry smiles) ubiquitous levels of inefficiency and incompetence, but none self-identified as the culprits.

The “I’m not the cause” effect would be worthy of a paper or two. Probably already done. Which leads me to this: papers and graduate theses must be produced en masse as part of an established process - just as civilians (and economies) need jobs to survive. The test is not currently: do people’s jobs all contribute in a valued and meaningful way to the project of civilization? If no, quit and find meaningful work. Why should the standard be higher for academic research, given the institutions, incentives, and processes currently in place?

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