🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3v3f2j$lrk@rebecca.albany.edu>, pb019@csc.albany.edu (Partha
Banerjee) wrote:
> 
> 
> In U.S., if you are a good basketball player (and especially a college 
> drop-out), you become a millionaire. On the other hand, if you are a good
> scientist (and especially work long and hard enough to be a Ph.D.), you are 
> a loser.
> 
In the US, if you are clever, with a technical bent (even a college
drop-out), you can become one of the richest men in the world (i.e. Bill
Gates). If you're a little less focussed on money, you can still wind-up
the creator of an industry (i.e. Steve Jobs). And this is hardly an
exclusive list.

So, what's your point?

A Ph.D. is not about money, and never has been. It's about the passionate
pursuit of knowledge. If that pursuit, coupled to a solid income, is not
as attractive to you as a pile of cash, then you should reconsider what
you're doing. Find a way to exploit whatever talent or smarts you have, or
go get training in a highly paid trade (e.g. medicine).

As for your basketball analogy, "good" athletes rarely become
millionaires. Only a handful of the most outstanding competitors reach
this level. Merely "good" athletes wash-out in high school or college, or
toil for years for modest pay. These folks, by the way, deserve much more
sympathy than "good" Ph.D. students. "Good" Ph.D.'s are pretty assured of
at least a reasonable income, even if not in their field of choice.
However, many (most?) "good" athletes are basically duped by greedy
coaches and/or schools more interested in making money than in providing
these kids with an education that will outlast non-superstar talents. 

The elite of outstanding scientists may not be multi-millionaires since,
as someone else noted, you can't sell tickets to a synthesis. However,
they have their own rewards. I doubt many would trade these for the life
of a superstar athlete.

Ariel

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 A. D. Anbar                                     anbar_a@caltech.edu 
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