I've been thinking about that Sabine Hossenfelder video* that is doing the rounds and I have to say that I mostly don't like it. It raises real issues with how the incentives are laid out in science, yes, but the whole framing is (sometimes explicitly) that that is all academia is and there's nothing of value. Besides, these are not new issues and a lot of people have been talking about these points in a much more productive way.
@eliocamp@academicchatter kudos to her for being brave enough to step up and tell us all about the UPS and downs of her career.
As you say, she raises good points, but isn't the first and won't be the last until we find some way to fix academia. I also agree with you that I wouldn't cast things the way she cast them, but it has me thinking, not for the first time.
@eliocamp@academicchatter I think she is spot on. I think your implication that making YouTube videos is somehow inherently dodgy is unfair. She's doing something that is accessible to people who can't access a university and she's not perpetuating the wasteful bullshit that takes up so much of an academics life in an institution.
@eliocamp@academicchatter@JohannaMakesGames I am a little surprised, that fellow academics (see thread) seem to feel the urge to go after the messenger than after the problem… and that is IMHO a science culture devaluing personalities and novel ideas over hierarchies and „high impact“ yellow press. Can‘t we just agree to disagree? I for my part do not agree with all her statements, but thats how science should be, isn‘t it!
@kraweel65@eliocamp@academicchatter I wanted to raise awareness about the academic quality of her videos. Academia has its problems, that is not criticized here.
I think that a lot of her frustration and some of the reasons for her saying that what is published is mostly bullshit or that academia is not "honest work" (unlike making youtube videos) may be that she feels that all science is cutting-edge science. She wanted to be at the forefront of discovery, answering the big questions, solving the big problems and toppling down established theories.
But most science is fumbling around in the dark trying to answer small questions based on the established theories. And I'd dare to say that most of that work ends up nowhere, which is also important knowledge ("we tried this and it didn't work" is honest work). And that is not bullshit. It's not glamorous, but it's not bullshit
@eliocamp related to this, the book "Guerrilla Science: Survival Strategies of a Cuban Physicist" really changed my perception of what "doing science" and "research" really is about and how important answering the small questions is. Specially because contrary to many people's belief, there's still a ton of small questions we (humanity) have unanswered.
Add comment