FailForward @FailForward@qoto.org

@piggo @piggo Right. Now I recognise it. It reminds me of caves in Germany south of Harz mountains near Nordhausen and Kyffhauser which is full of gyps (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarossa_Cave). very "different" experience (in comparison to karst caves): https://www.google.com/search?q=barbarossa+hoehle&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjjtKyG-Lr7AhX1y7sIHaTmBYIQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=barbarossa+hoehle&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIHCAAQgAQQGFAAWMMDYJcFaAFwAHgAgAE9iAE9kgEBMZgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1nwAEB&sclient=img&ei=7ih5Y-OFBvWX7_UPpM2XkAg&bih=894&biw=1612&hl=en

@piggo what's that?

@leah beautiful

@TheStrugglingScientists I agree on all your points. On the other hand, however exploitative/skewed (pick your adverb) the system is, it works. It produces new knowledge, it advances humankind, technology, in short, it creates progress. So much is certain. That it also involves more or less precarious life for PhD students (depending on the particular region), is a different thing. But I agree, trying to help to mitigate the damage "the system" does to many starting scientists is a good and worthy mission. Good luck there!

@TheStrugglingScientists This (knowing yourself well enough to enter PhD studies) is by definition almost impossible. Except, everybody starting a PhD thinks they are smarter than that and they already got all the right answers in the pocket - because these are smart folks - or so they think (no irony). How naive it almost always turns out to be!

In my experience, the thing is that, the vast majority of PhD students recruit from the material coming straight from BSc./MSc. graduation and among those typically those who are running on an "autopilot" and lack a strong direction - they are good in the _craft of learning_ (in contrast to being good in some serious craft) and that is what makes them top of their class and therefore their autopilot heuristics steer them to more of "learning" - after all it worked fine so far, so what can go wrong? These people are primarily good in the art of "learning stuff" and only secondarily become passionate for the topic they chose to learn. This future leads to all sorts of dead ends and a few narrow paths towards a successful academic career. When not academic career (and statistics tells us only a minority gets there), there are all sorts of identity crises and disillusions in that future. So I think the main question in that list should be this: **after spending 4-6 years on a meager salary and oftentimes abusive working conditions are you ready to start from zero back in "the industry"?** If the answer is yes, thumbs up. Most of the time it's not so. Typically the person starting an academic career entering PhD studies deludes themselves that they will make it, while the stats tell a different story.

And then there is a small group of people who enter PhD later in their years after already an established career in some craft. Those know better what they are doing, but are by no means immune to delusions of the above type.

Perhaps the best advice to get on this topic is contained in an old book by _P.J. Feibelman: A PhD Is Not Enough!: A Guide to Survival in Science_ from 1993 and still very valid (!) https://www.amazon.com/PhD-Not-Enough-Survival-Science-ebook/dp/B004EHZDE8 Peruse at your own risk and peril.

@pony Neither did I. Which is quite extraordinary. It seems my family is just fine at 17degs room temp - my kids even run around in T-shirts, that's somewhat crude for me already. Last year we've had 18-19 the whole winter. If it goes like this in a decade we'll be OK just above zero. Hmmm.

@piggo

@keithzg @mathias Yes, I agree, creativity gets flowing when people need to re-adjust their lives (including my own every now and then). It just takes time.

@mathias and they probably have mortgages to pay too. plus given their previous level of salaries probably also no time to lose on jobs which pay less. and there is not a large number of suitable ones - of course depending on the particular geography. anyway, you get the point.

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@pony it's implemented this way in many countries indeed. Wikipedia lists it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_police. Clearly, UK is rather an exception in Europe with not having it. @vfrmedia

@piggo congrats! Myself, I don't even want to be verified - whatever that means - I value my little privacy by obscurity too much.

@pony It's clearly an enforcement problem. Here it's also municipal force (not really police, but something like that) responsible for these things. But nobody bothers really in person. We have things like the one below driving around. These scanners automatically report the cars to municipal servers, those automatically issue a fine, send it to an automated facility for printing letters and enveloping them and then it's picked up by postal service. The first time a person interacts with that fine is when I receive it per post. And that is typically also the last human being seeing the fine, with an exception of me making a complaint about it, in which case it's the first time somebody from the municipality touches the said fine. It's a bit robotic system, but it works quite well and saves costs.

@vfrmedia

@pony I live at a place where we pay premium for parking _anywhere_ (like €6/hr in the city centre is a very normal thing and annual fee for the second car runs into €300 with 3rd car being like €600). The world here simply reminds you every single day that **a car is a luxury item, not a human right**. That solves most problems like bad parking. Because with fees comes enforcement and it goes hand in hand with fines for bad parking. Cities like Prague would greatly benefit too. Especially in the suburbs.

@vfrmedia

It got busy and buzzy with so many people joining here around, but there's something else to observe in the bubble I move around: people are friendly, welcoming and very helpful. That's nice for a change. And then I read in the morning news that the world is falling apart. 🤔

@Scott1984FP@mastodon.social give it time.