[admiral33]

I agree - network effects predate the internet after all. As long as good universities keep producing talented graduates it will be hard to undermine their reputation. And I don't think ambitious people being driven towards certain universities for clout is a negative. I say this as someone who went to an increasingly recognized yet still underdog state school. Maybe instead of discarding MIT's reputation a nudge in the direction of increasing editorial oversight can suffice. Though sensationalism seems to be a prerequisite for visibility these days

[frognumber]

I liked MIT when it was "increasingly recognized yet still underdog" a lot.

With ambitions, there are different levels:

- An ambitious scientist should be driven to make ambitious discoveries

- An ambitious scientist should not be driven to steal credit, fake results, hype, oversell, and defraud

MIT's culture changed over the past 20 years. High competition (e.g. 4:1) leads to the type of people who do good work. With insane competition (e.g. 1000:1), the only way to "win" is to cheat.