🚀 go-pugleaf

Michael Kyba (kyba@bcu.ubc.ca) wrote:
: Dan Walker wrote:
[snip]

[Walker]
: > Let's kill two birds with one stone. Trash the archaic
: > concept of a "PhD degree" and a "PhD student". The Free
: > Market demands it --- supply exceeds demand. But the work
: > in the labs still needs doing. So, rather than doing the
: > work as Phd students, the same people can be hired on as
: > Advanced Research Technicians (ARTs). They can be paid
: > whatever the Free Market says they're worth...well, at
: > least within the constraints of the minimum wage law.

[Kyba responds]
: I'm not convinced.  The designation, Ph.D. is useful - it attests to
: an individual's ability to do independent research.  The writing of a
: thesis is useful.  I'm not even sure that oversupply is a problem.
[snip]

[Walker responds to Kyba]
The more I think about it, the more I reckon that the ARTs
proposal has a lot of advantages.

Consider this: university research is increasingly done in
partnership with business. Inevitably, such partnerships
demand confidentiality. But the PhD student is expected to
"make an original contribution to knowledge"...to *public*
knowledge, that is. But this is in direct conflict with
the need for confidentiality. A careless presentation at a
conference can blow any chance of a patent. A published
paper can reveal proprietary information. With ARTs, there
is no danger of this. Unlike the PhD student, the ART is a
technician, collecting a wage with no need to add to
public knowledge.

Yet another problem solved.

Dan Walker dwalker@geology.ubc.ca