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by colechristensen 2839 days ago
Exactly it's often just slightly less explicit, emphasis on slightly.

Academia is toxic because again it is being measured. If a university cannot determine the quality of faculty other than counting publications and impact factors, the university itself is seriously lacking quality, alas there is a plague of it.

I wonder if it is directly related to the bloom/infestation of university administration sizes and top salaries.

I'm of the opinion that a university ought to be something like what you'd think a temple to discovery and knowledge ought to be, instead of a mill for producing credentials for students and a shitty game for faculty advancement.

if I had a billion dollars... (to the tune of the Barenaked Ladies)
2 comments
tomelders 2839 days ago
It's always been this way to some degree. Every now and again a messiah comes along that illuminates and exposes a new way of thinking, and academia goes through a revolution. Then the weaker minds establish boundaries based on the teachings of their fearless leader, the leader dies, and academia settles back into it's natural state of dogmatic adherence to ideas it understands but can't expand upon.

There will be another Einstein. There will be another Darwin. And they will change everything. It is only a matter of time.

But I doubt they will come from China. While many a genius may be born in China, they may as well have been born on Mars because it is not a country that rewards exceptionalism and original thinking.

Also... I'm still trying to imagine what Dijon Ketchup would taste like.

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haihaibye 2839 days ago
Universities themselves are chasing university rankings, which count publications and impact factors. Does a 17 year old kid or their parents know how to judge a universities quality? No, they use prestige (rankings).

Nobody has time to read everyone's papers, or evaluate someone's knowledge thoroughly, so we fall back on things like degrees, impact factors or university prestige.

Once you realise academia is all about signalling - being able to quickly judge people - everything makes sense.

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