The question is about how much permanent damage the administration will have done by 2029. They're obviously trying very hard to kill academia in this country, and the answer is not going to be zero, but I don't understand who else is going to put up the resources to really compete with us. There are midwestern state universities with research budgets that rival those of Cambridge and Oxford.
Here's another example: I regularly read quality publications in my field from researchers at the University of North Texas. In 2024, UNT ranked 170th in the country by R&D expenditure. Until I start seeing excellent work from other countries' 170th-ranked universities, I'm not worried about them poaching a few researchers from us now.
We don't appreciate how good the research ecosystem is in the U.S. The arsonists in power are trying to set fire to the house, and everyone will be poorer for it in the future, but we can still mitigate the damage.
The arsonists in power are trying to set fire to the house
Academia was on fire a long time ago, as evident in the reproducibility crisis.
A core cause is publishing pressure: Journals give peer reviewers almost no time to approve new works, and a professor who fails to approve what he reviews can jeopardize his own ability to publish, turning the process into a frenzied rubber stamp.
Lack of actual peer review means significant errors and even fraud gets published without question.
I've seen the pressure to publish cause a professor to cover up protocol lapses in rat studies. The professor was made aware that the control group had been mishandled, invalidating the findings, but he published anyway because failure to publish something after receiving grant money could harm his career.
Even in harder sciences like chemistry I've seen papers with glaring errors in the equations.
The current state is that the majority of academic output is not reproducible -- you cannot depend upon it for building toward future results. This is a house that needs to burn until the truth matters again.
Until I start seeing excellent work from other countries' 170th-ranked universities, I'm not worried about them poaching a few researchers from us now.
But can you see their work in the usual places you look? Do your favorite science publications include european or chinese research articles?
Comments
The question is about how much permanent damage the administration will have done by 2029. They're obviously trying very hard to kill academia in this country, and the answer is not going to be zero, but I don't understand who else is going to put up the resources to really compete with us. There are midwestern state universities with research budgets that rival those of Cambridge and Oxford.
Here's another example: I regularly read quality publications in my field from researchers at the University of North Texas. In 2024, UNT ranked 170th in the country by R&D expenditure. Until I start seeing excellent work from other countries' 170th-ranked universities, I'm not worried about them poaching a few researchers from us now.
We don't appreciate how good the research ecosystem is in the U.S. The arsonists in power are trying to set fire to the house, and everyone will be poorer for it in the future, but we can still mitigate the damage.
Academia was on fire a long time ago, as evident in the reproducibility crisis.
A core cause is publishing pressure: Journals give peer reviewers almost no time to approve new works, and a professor who fails to approve what he reviews can jeopardize his own ability to publish, turning the process into a frenzied rubber stamp.
Lack of actual peer review means significant errors and even fraud gets published without question.
I've seen the pressure to publish cause a professor to cover up protocol lapses in rat studies. The professor was made aware that the control group had been mishandled, invalidating the findings, but he published anyway because failure to publish something after receiving grant money could harm his career. Even in harder sciences like chemistry I've seen papers with glaring errors in the equations.
The current state is that the majority of academic output is not reproducible -- you cannot depend upon it for building toward future results. This is a house that needs to burn until the truth matters again.
But can you see their work in the usual places you look? Do your favorite science publications include european or chinese research articles?