That’s the crux of most of the education debates. In reality, almost nothing is just signaling—it’s a mix of value and signaling, because that value is actually what’s being signaled. The problem is that it’s hard to identify the ratio of real and signaled value without investing a whole lot, and that leads to competitive advantage (in some aspects) to those who can signal without the expense of producing the real value.
Absolutely. There are plenty, plenty of parasites out there. And I hope we can improve the incentives. Thing is, it also takes smart people with integrity just showing up and insisting on doing the right thing, treating the system with savvy, yes, but also acting as if the system works the way it’s supposed to work.
I’m going into a scientific career. I immediately saw the kind of lies and exploitations that are going hand in hand with science. At the same time, there are a lot of wonderful people earnestly doing the best research they can.
One thing I’ve seen. Honest people aren’t cynical enough, and they’re often naive. I have met people who’ve thrown years away on crap PIs, or decades on opaque projects with no foundation.
I know that for me, if I’m going to wade into it, I have to keep a vision of how things are supposed to be, as well as the defects and parasitism.
That’s the crux of most of the education debates. In reality, almost nothing is just signaling—it’s a mix of value and signaling, because that value is actually what’s being signaled. The problem is that it’s hard to identify the ratio of real and signaled value without investing a whole lot, and that leads to competitive advantage (in some aspects) to those who can signal without the expense of producing the real value.
Absolutely. There are plenty, plenty of parasites out there. And I hope we can improve the incentives. Thing is, it also takes smart people with integrity just showing up and insisting on doing the right thing, treating the system with savvy, yes, but also acting as if the system works the way it’s supposed to work.
I’m going into a scientific career. I immediately saw the kind of lies and exploitations that are going hand in hand with science. At the same time, there are a lot of wonderful people earnestly doing the best research they can.
One thing I’ve seen. Honest people aren’t cynical enough, and they’re often naive. I have met people who’ve thrown years away on crap PIs, or decades on opaque projects with no foundation.
I know that for me, if I’m going to wade into it, I have to keep a vision of how things are supposed to be, as well as the defects and parasitism.