the dark forest of academia
A few years ago, my friend1 and I had a particularly lucid conversation around the topic of science and academia.
I'll reproduce it here.
a conversation about academia
Lili: I feel like science is a cult sometimes
Tea: Yeah true but I feel like cults are based on using mysticism to explain things whereas science (ideally) uses logic and reason. But science is cult-ish at times.
Lili: We're all going with our beliefs. Some subfields are luckier at grasping the truth. Cults have their own system of logic from which they explain the world, in that way they are like science. I used to think that science was the pinnacle of reason and logic, but now that I'm part of it I don't know.
Tea: I wouldn't confound academia and science like that
Lili: Hmm that's true
Tea: I would say academia is a bastardized version of science
Lili: I am talking about academia. Academia is a cult.
Tea: 💯 agree
Lili: Science is a platonic ideal, which we can only hope to reach through this cult. I guess that's our best bet right now.
Tea: Maybe. I still feel like it's such a terrible system, especially with the fact that they hide everything we do behind paywalls and shit. And even if you do get access, your chances of understanding are low if you're not in the field.
Lili: Yeah that's messed up
Tea: It's more nuanced but still
Lili: Very cult like
Tea: Tfw you wanted to have fun and do mushrooms with a friend but then realize you're in a cult
Lili: Lol I'm just typing all of this in a dark forest ...some kids came by and got scared by me sitting on the bench
When I'm walking through the forest I have this sense that I want to capture the beauty. I think that is what science is: capturing the beauty in the world through quantification. That's science at its best, the equations are our paintings of reality. Not fully capturing the intense depth of it but still portraying an aspect of nature.
Tea:: I like to think of it as painting pictures we understand -- start with simple idea that explain most things -- and the more we paint them, the more intricate and beautiful they are. A painting will never be reality but it can do it amazing justice.
journalism and academia
I was reminded about this conversation recently by two really insightful posts by Marlene on journalism: on what is reported and on the profession itself.
The parallels between journalism and academia are somewhat uncanny: two professions that are characterized as "noble" and thus underpaid.
To some extent, I have some identity as a scientist. Just like Marlene, I feel like doing my job is important in principle. Where would we be if we did not admire and inspect nature? It feels good to see people raise their eyebrows when I tell them I'm a neuroscientist.
Yet, when I get together with other neuroscientists, we talk about how long we can keep doing this job. The day to day is hard. We signed up to unravel the mysteries of the brain, but day to day we babysit monkeys and fine-tune simulations. We spend years writing a paper that (we hope) a hundred people might read, all the while knowing that if we jump to the "dark side" we could make three times more and actually afford to support a family.
It's hard because the best science and journalism give us stories of the world around us. They keep us grounded in reality.
I'm gonna call my friend Tea here for anonymity, although that's not their real name.↩