sci.research.careers

On Sat, 22 Sep 2007, Beladi Nasralla wrote:

> On Sep 23, 4:16 am, Straydog wrote:
>
>> I think there might be a couple here on SRC that would be envious, too,
>> and I won't mention any names.
>
> Nah ! By the end of their lives, people came to what corresponds to
> their nature. If they were given an opportunity to make the decisions
> again, they would have done it the same way again. Just for an
> example, I as a part of my employment at the govt lab, I did a project
> at university. Here was the university postdoc of my age who had wife
> and child, but his contract would run out by the end of the year, and
> he would not know where the money come from. A couple of his postdoc
> colleagues got permanent better-paying jobs in my govt lab. But he did
> not want to make the same move, because he was critical of the low
> level of science which was being done at our govt lab. By the end of
> the day, everything is decided by one's deeply-seated preferences, and
> not by the rational reasons.

If you were God, you could "try" me on that decision. However, I also told
you that I would not have my present wife. So, in the end, my wife was
more important. Take out the wife factor, I would change. Say what you
want.

>
>> So, again,
>> sometimes you have to look dumb, act dumb, and behave dumb to get the dumb
>> job.
>
> My job at govt lab is a _dumb_ job. In order to get it (also judging
> by the recent hiring events), one has to be relatively productive (not
> necessarily smart), but beyond of all, the person should have zero
> ambition and no political initiative. All of the recently hired people
> off the street look to me like meek sheep.

I wonder if rick++ sees this or can't see this.

> Perhaps, this is an explanation why the management is in no hurry to
> recognize that I could do the higher-level jobs and bear a higher
> responsibility, and carefully steers me away from the opportunities.

I'll bet some money that if you improved your english, grammar, etc.,
everything, that it would be noticed.

>
>> But, if I knew what I know now, I would be eternally thankful for that
>> boring, dull, dumb, well-paid, high job security, tollerable bullshit job.
>
> Did you study thermodynamics ?

Yes, it was witchcraft. Statistical mechanics too; even more withcraft.
Quantum mechanics was just totally unreal.

> There was a guy called Maxwell's demon.

Another thing that does not exist.

> He knows the velocity of each molecule of air in the container,

In your dreams.

and he
> separates them by their velocities: the slow ones go the the right,
> the fast ones go the left. Thus, we have energy produced out of
> nothing. But wait ! -- the _information_ is the energy !

No. This is all wrong. But, I will tell you about a demon that does exist:
it is called a "capitalist-imperialist" and with it, money travels up a
concentration gradient [alexy's favorite word], against second law. All
through history, that is how rich people get rich and richer. Thousands of
years of experimental/empirical fact.

> In other words, in order for you to know the advantages of the "boring
> secure" job,

I think % of those rich guys don't know shit about thermo, statistics,
or quanta.

> you first had to experience the disadvantages of the
> interesting but insecure stressful job.

I think all of those rich guys _knew_, by some intuition, that they not
only did not have to experience those disadvantages, but the decided to go
straight for the money and forget the bullshit. The only caveat I will
add, as a footnote, is that the money is a false god.

footnote: money is a false god.


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