He is a former physicist? Good god, the waste... He attended a public school for free. I wonder if he has factored in the price his government paid for only 10 years of physiking out of him...
Companies allegedly don't recoup the cost of hiring you for at least a year. Public schools are offered because it is seen as a worthwhile investment in the future, and graduates help pay for the next generation's schooling. In other words, there was a lot of good-faith investment in him. He essentially took the money and ran.
I mean, I'm not saying he is scum or that he is contractually obligated to his country, but this is much less impressive when you realize part of what he did was offload much of the burden. It seems unlikely he'd have been able to amass the seed funding for the investments he lives on by age 33 without the tens of thousands invested in him by others.
Fun fact: One third of scientists (on a global basis) do not live in the country they were born in.
(See http://www.fasebj.org/content/18/9/936.full)
This comes from a lack of opportunities. For example, there are no groups working on what I was trained for in myCountry other than the one I was in. I would essentially have to replace my supervisor by competing with the other students he graduated with only one winner. This is what happens when each professor trains 10 people to replace him and proceed to determine the winner by whoever can work the hardest. This is not good faith investment. That's a callous winner-takes-all system with a built in oversupply to lower prices---like those competitions where you get webdesigners to work for free to make a logo. I don't feel any moral obligation to participate in that Ponzi scheme. Ever noticed how people hawking university degrees aren't exactly upfront about placement ratios and things like that and how students usually have to learn about what's really going after they're already committed?
Since the salary for an academic scientist is rather low, I could have made the money MUCH faster as a long haul trucker. At $17.5/hr a framing carpenter apprentice is paid substantially better than a grad student. At $37/hour a journeyman level carpenter (after 4 years as an apprentice) would make nearly twice as much as a postdoc. A watchmaker (2 year education) makes 40k. Yes, skilled tradesmen make that much. I never knew.
Had I known back then what I know now, I would never ever have gotten the degrees I did. It was and is one of the most inefficient means of making money I can imagine. Other than being a sign spinner or a dancing pizza (which still pays more than being a research assistant with a MSc, no kidding). I would have way more resentment towards the system if it wasn't for the fact that I enjoyed my work at the time. This enjoyment probably saved me from wasting my money on stuff to compensate for my lack of happiness working.
> He is a former physicist? Good god, the waste...
Not sure what you're getting at. I got my BS in Physics. Then even went to grad school for a while. There is no such thing as "getting a job in physics". There are no "physics jobs" that I could find. It's basically either go into high school teaching, or else get your PhD and try for an associate professor job while learning how to apply for grants.
My education in Physics was basically a bust. Entertainment. Fun to learn that stuff. Then I owed a lot of money. That's it. Had to actually learn something else in order to pay off the loans and make a living.
I wouldn't call it a waste. Now we have someone with a scientific brain thinking and writing about more efficient ways of living, with less pollution and better use of resources.
I bet many physicists are doing things that are much less important for our future.
> He is a former physicist? Good god, the waste... He attended a public school for free. I wonder if he has factored in the price his government paid for only 10 years of physiking out of him...
So let me get this straight. The government builds "free" schools. The government then forces people - under threat of violence - to attend these schools. Therefore people owe the government a lifetime of work.
I am impressed at just how much you have managed to warp what I said. Please point to the part where governments threaten you with violence if you don't attend college.
Companies allegedly don't recoup the cost of hiring you for at least a year. Public schools are offered because it is seen as a worthwhile investment in the future, and graduates help pay for the next generation's schooling. In other words, there was a lot of good-faith investment in him. He essentially took the money and ran.
I mean, I'm not saying he is scum or that he is contractually obligated to his country, but this is much less impressive when you realize part of what he did was offload much of the burden. It seems unlikely he'd have been able to amass the seed funding for the investments he lives on by age 33 without the tens of thousands invested in him by others.