Re:Modification of acetaminophen to reduce liver toxicity an...
by tomabuct on Saturday May 24, 2025 @07:13PM
(#44084329)
Resentment is inherently anecdotal, but nevertheless a data point.
The issue with your argument is that you’re conflating two different points on the academic pipeline by shitting on high school science fairs because of the post-doc hellscape further down the line.
The latter is a special case of low wage, dead-end jobs that are inherent to capitalism, which can more generally leave anyone paralyzed in a vicious grind loop. Improving this may require capitalistic reform such as UBI and increased housing supply, but is the human condition of the quest for satisfaction in one’s niche.
The former is exposure to future possibilities that could satisfy the constraints of economic and intellectual well-being, likely through incremental progress but with the potential for breakthrough in either realm.
Thanks. I mean, it's not like I have direct experience with this stuff or anything, as one of those "10000000" who spent years of my life doing science, only to end up in industry.
Also, it's not like I (and those other 9,999,999 kids) would do better by skipping the years of science and going directly to the productive part, or that those (now grown up) "kids" are encouraged to continue circling the airstrip of life by the funding programs that are happy to pay postdoc salaries -- postdocs being the best kind of indentured labor -- to keep the dream alive just a little bit longer.
It's clearly much better to waste the time of our smartest people, by injecting false economic incentives into the system in an effort to socially engineer some kind of scientific command economy. Let's grind those rocks, and turn the cheap gravel into concrete to build glorious future!