Schizoid science
Aug. 25th, 2021 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sphagnumVioletcabra's post Schizogenesis (some very interesting thoughts about how a dysfunctional family can generate Schizophrenia) really struck a nerve with me. Maybe it's a long shot, but I think some of the mechanisms explains why "the science" makes such an insane impression lately.
So here I want to explore the idea that, maybe, the current functioning of science as an institution can have a similar effect on practicing scientists as the dysfunctional family on the child.
One thing to understand is that current science is not what it used to be for those participating, although at the same time a lot of effort is spent on making it seem so. Due to a variety of reasons that is not the fault of any scientist, science has become extremely competitive, while at the same time research is hitting a wall in many fields. Yet everybody vigorously pretends it's the sixties, where opportunities abounded and everybody is a bit Boheme about the whole thing. One especially egregious lie is that everybody who is good enough at his subject matter will have tenure at some point, as it once used to be.
The psychological relationship between the researcher trying to have a career (PhD students and postdocs) and the university (sometimes called an Alma Mater) is very emotional. A researcher isn't just doing some job, no, he is trying to assert his identity. He is trying to obtain recognition, his whole persona depends on it. Almost every researcher I know was a smart kid, with promising talent. Their whole identities were built around this, and they have come to university to have the promise fulfilled.
And boy are they in for a disappointment. But it is not just any disappointment. It's a grinding down of illusions not by straightforwardly walking into walls, but by working hard to fulfill requirements and to give everything for an institution that pretends to be very happy about that, and which promises a sort of fullfillment, but which always keeps retreating and denying comitment.
Additionally, if you are a scientist, all the prizes you may win, all the awards you may achieve, all the grants that you get, at the end of the day put a stronger burden on you because they reinforce the promising child identity while at the same time not amounting to very much when all is said and done.
There are plenty of double binds involved in this process. You cannot really question orthodoxy without risking being cut out of funding while at the same time you have to be super original to get funding. You are supposed to be easy going and open minded while at the same time deliver like clockwork. Your are supposed to have a coherent work profile while at the same time all sorts of incoherent projects appear which you cannot refuse to participate in.
I was reasonably successful in academia, but got out. And it felt like getting out of a horrible dream, in which you weren't aware that it was a horrible dream. There is no doubt in my mind that the current scientific world is psychologically toxic, and that you cannot thrive there without some significant level of dissociation. That's not everyone's thing, so if you have a high tolerance for that, then you will have an advantage.
That is the situation I think of every time I see some modern scientist advocating for some senseless cruelty to be applied to millions of people.
The smart kids are ill.
So here I want to explore the idea that, maybe, the current functioning of science as an institution can have a similar effect on practicing scientists as the dysfunctional family on the child.
One thing to understand is that current science is not what it used to be for those participating, although at the same time a lot of effort is spent on making it seem so. Due to a variety of reasons that is not the fault of any scientist, science has become extremely competitive, while at the same time research is hitting a wall in many fields. Yet everybody vigorously pretends it's the sixties, where opportunities abounded and everybody is a bit Boheme about the whole thing. One especially egregious lie is that everybody who is good enough at his subject matter will have tenure at some point, as it once used to be.
The psychological relationship between the researcher trying to have a career (PhD students and postdocs) and the university (sometimes called an Alma Mater) is very emotional. A researcher isn't just doing some job, no, he is trying to assert his identity. He is trying to obtain recognition, his whole persona depends on it. Almost every researcher I know was a smart kid, with promising talent. Their whole identities were built around this, and they have come to university to have the promise fulfilled.
And boy are they in for a disappointment. But it is not just any disappointment. It's a grinding down of illusions not by straightforwardly walking into walls, but by working hard to fulfill requirements and to give everything for an institution that pretends to be very happy about that, and which promises a sort of fullfillment, but which always keeps retreating and denying comitment.
Additionally, if you are a scientist, all the prizes you may win, all the awards you may achieve, all the grants that you get, at the end of the day put a stronger burden on you because they reinforce the promising child identity while at the same time not amounting to very much when all is said and done.
There are plenty of double binds involved in this process. You cannot really question orthodoxy without risking being cut out of funding while at the same time you have to be super original to get funding. You are supposed to be easy going and open minded while at the same time deliver like clockwork. Your are supposed to have a coherent work profile while at the same time all sorts of incoherent projects appear which you cannot refuse to participate in.
I was reasonably successful in academia, but got out. And it felt like getting out of a horrible dream, in which you weren't aware that it was a horrible dream. There is no doubt in my mind that the current scientific world is psychologically toxic, and that you cannot thrive there without some significant level of dissociation. That's not everyone's thing, so if you have a high tolerance for that, then you will have an advantage.
That is the situation I think of every time I see some modern scientist advocating for some senseless cruelty to be applied to millions of people.
The smart kids are ill.