[karaterobot]

> Based on my limited conversations with NTT academics who considered career changes during the pandemic, there is an odd quality of stockholm syndrome where PhDs (especially in the humanities) simply cannot fathom that any other life path might be worthwhile, and hence toil away.

Calling it Stockholm Syndrome seems correct to me, at least based on my anecdotes. So many smart friends who can't leave academia after more or less growing up inside it. Like the person who can't leave the small town they grew up in, so they just languish there forever.