After finishing my PhD I went to a university-led session on ‘What Comes Next.’ What I heard sounded a lot like “now, you beg for money.” It was so depressing to think about all the very clever people in that room who had worked so very hard only to find out they had no financial security and would be spending most of their days asking for money. I realized that even what I thought of as the ‘safe path’ was uncertain so I may as well go after what I truly want. That led me here.
This. This I had to see for myself - the money begging approach, the insecure job of 2 or 3 years and then beg for more. I was disheartened with this also. Having a family and the need to be secure, I took my PhD into industry rather than academia. Unfortunately, I didn’t get paid for that extra achievement and feel like I’ve never fully reached my potential. All because I couldn’t get the proper assurance behind the question of, ‘and then what?’. However, getting a PhD is enjoyable and certainly fulfilling. But be prepared to do something different afterwards.
Couldn’t agree more here. I feel somewhat fortunate to have shifted my perspective in pursuing my physics PhD program as a time to learn, have fun, and then move to industry. It’s rather disheartening watching hardworking people pursue the academic dream, while making all kind of sacrifices (both personal and those related to academic politics), just to aim for a position that may or may not work out.
The real tragedy is that you almost didn't post this video. People NEED to know what kind of world we live in. This was more valuable than 99% of commencement speeches.
This has always bothered me when I heard about people with masters degree doing work vastly different from what they worked so hard for and I was left wondering most of the time, how is this happening. This was very illuminating and I'm seething.
@@skippy6086 I need an electrician frequently which is why I became one too. I have never needed a physicist and one reason I opted not to study it in college despite it being fascinating.
No offense, but she did a video on why capitalism is awesome not long ago. Many of us have been saying this for years. This is not news to LOTS of people.
My psycology therapist would say otherwise. Its not the worl that must change for you. I know, a partial minded view but most people would support that claim.
@@AtrozGrima its the easiest to always blame yourself even though you met all the criteria required to not fail, but this claim fails the logic test, so there must be an outside factor that intervened and sabotaged you, and in Sabine's case it's the system. how come a post grad in physics cant find a job in research?? sounds ridiculous to say its her fault after she did everything the system demanded.
@@AtrozGrima Psychologists have no clue how society works, they are always focused on the individual, and dont bother with anything else. They arent smart people, they act smart but know almost nothing. It is bitter, sad, but true.
Hearing your story reminded me of that Franz Kafka quote: “I was ashamed of myself when I realized that life was a costume party, and I attended with my real face.” I am glad you stood your ground after all. We need more people like you, and not just in Academia.
At the Time of Franz Kafka There were yet no socialist Euroland countries promoting some bulshit agenda , but it was starting at that time. Global democracy is a scam.
Except that anyone with integrity leaves academia because it is a rotten swamp in which only shrewed and greedy people thrive... The higher up you get in the organization, the less integrity they have. Especially in the highly prestigious institutions. The corruption and self-interest is rife and little to no meaningful science is done anymore, so anyone with integrity leaves. Scientific discovery has almost completed stopped in regards to large discoveries because research there isn't profitable...
There's no good reason to wear a mask and lose your integrity. You can use your actual self, you just need to know your boundaries and have actual confidence.
Any business or undertaking these days is a emotional marathon, and anyone who puts their real self on the starting line will lose the emotionally draining commitment. Kinda the whole reason emotionally dettached people are more successful and why it seems like no one cares in business meetings.
Agree. My PhD was made that much harder by the need to sift thru 100’s of bullshit papers (pointless, poor quality and written simply to fish for citations) that Sabine calling it, is very satisfying!
Also a physics PhD. Fighting for funding and fighting against petty administrators pushed me out of experimental condensed matter physics. Now I'm a high school teacher. I applied to corporate jobs but when you are so specialized and the job market is up and down it is really difficult finding work anywhere in the world. I had trouble fitting into the machinery.
Somewhere theres a kid that is so glad you are his teacher. Somewhere theres a kid who recalls your teaching and recognizes your efforts. Somewhere theres a community that is glad you are part of it. Add infinitum.
The education system is an indoctrination camp meant to turn all who attend into wage/salary slaves serving and making the big dollars for the powerful elite.
Dear Sabine, No, you have not failed. That you're not doing the "bs" scientific works doesn't mean that your dream of becoming a scientist failed. You're one of the best scientific minds, and your contribution to the field shouldn't be underestimated. You succeeded. Your dream is being materialized in a bit unique but beautiful way.
Yes Sabine, please keep challenging the status quo and hopefully we will return to caring about true scientific inquiry and not how to milk grant money to stuff institution's pockets.
the greedy swines get their claws into everything, they don't care about what goes on, they are just there for the $$$. And as usual, literally everything and everyone else suffers.
I want to push back that it's not token capitualation that results in the glass ceiling for women. And programs that require diversity and representation do not reenforce outdated world views, but I respect feeling frustrated that they are not a comprohensive solution either. I refuse to take away the victories of civil rights champions of the past that forced the hand for those capitulations, even if there is still more work left to do.
I'm very glad you did post this video. As a disillusioned postdoc stuck in an endless loop of writing hollow research papers to get grants that retread work already done decades earlier (with a fresh coat of the latest buzzword added); all the while trying to make ends meet on a salary you wouldn't need to go to school for in the first place, with no job security and my mental health destroyed; I feel happy to know there are ways out of this wretched system. You're not alone in feeling like you never fit in - a lot of us feel like our dreams are dead.
Its not just bureaucracy, it is the entire monetary system. It has failed us, but we wont see it. So we continue the absurdity, at the cost of both human lives, as well as overall mental health and well-being.
@@morpheas768 The current monetary system is successful: It is doing what it is supposed to do, and with great efficiency. What it is supposed to do, however, is transfer wealth from the masses to billionaires.
As a grad student, I had a professor plagiarize an entire term paper of mine which he used as a chapter in his book. My complaint to him and the department fell on deaf ears. I was told that my worked belonged to the professor because all grad work belonged to the professor who taught me. What a bunch of garbage.
My University (as most in America) expels fraudulent plagiarists, but I've never heard of professors being fired for the same reason. Do you have a link to your original publication online for us to compare his book to?
That's exactly why I never went back to academia after my master's. It was all about what to do to get that extra grant. Everyone (including myself) was writing bullshit to get grants. I used to want to become a scientist since I was a child. The reality killed that dream for me too... I totally get it.
Same here. Publishing has so much metagaming, that it's not producing good work. My thesis adviser told me to split my paper up into 3-5 papers, publish them separately and have them all cite each other to inflate my impact numbers. I knew academia was bullshit as soon as that was suggested.
The institutions are failing, and in order to save the scientific knowledge to go down with it, we need people teaching straight to the public, and not only the raw science, but all the epistemological nuances around it. You are a brave and inspiring person! Thanks ❤
When the questions you want to find answers to (buy doing science) collide with "will said answers make line go up?" Will your quest to unlock the mysteries of the universe be profitable? Isn't as much "reality" as it is "Capitalism". You, as an individual, might have as much luck changing the laws of physics as you would changing the effects that Capitalism (specifically the profit motive) has on doing science.🤷♂️
But what's the alternative that already exists? Universities have huge issues but they still do focus on topics you'd never see a fully commercialized industry indulge. It is an evil but a lesser evil. What else is there?
I am a professor but totally understand the terrible rat race. i was once writing an academic book (rather well known one now) but my HoD knocked on my office door one day and told me that the university didn't value scholarship any more. i retired as soon as was financially able to, and moved to Thailand. never been back. Take care, Donald
Sawasdi kap. You and Sab have stumbled into the invisible walls of a technological house of cards. Science is supposed to be a process of discovery where we chose the most accurate way to describe observations, but that depends on who “we” are. We are not what you think we are. We are more like the subjects of the virtual world in the Matrix. Controlled with lies and a brilliant characterization of the world, however, it is built essentially on lies. We struggle not against the flesh, but against spiritual principalities in heaven and hell. It’s all about control, this world. God is. Choke di, farang.
RE: the university didn't value scholarship any more I guess they are looking for foundations for their latest propaganda projects. Research is subordinate to policy. Findings that are contrary to their policies, or their imagined ideal world, is not appreciated.
@@ibubezi7685 I always get a kick out of people who loudly proclaim "all the scientists agree on climate change", as if science was a democracy and the facts should actually care what scientists think.
@@aliceglass828 people have different standards for success I suppose. You could have two noble prizes but if your goal was to cure cancer and you failed, you'd consider yourself a failure, I guess.
Hi, Sabine - I have had a different experience of academia, maybe partly because I've been a Prof at a smaller university where there is much less emphasis on grinding out papers and much more emphasis on sharing information with curious young minds. I'd like to make two points: 1) I admire you for telling your very personal story to your audience, and 2) although what you are doing now was not your original dream, I think it is in fact HUGELY IMPORTANT and that you have found your true calling in being such an effective educator on the Internet. As you stated, information is expanding so quickly that it is growing beyond our means and our time to learn it all. What we need more than people writing more papers is people explaining what all this information means in understandable terms. You are VERY good at this! So keep your chin up and keep doing what you are doing. You are providing an extremely valuable service!
As a former PhD candidate now currently working in industry, this really resonates with me so much. Thank you for being so open and honest about your experience. There is a rewarding, worthwhile life to experience beyond academia.
I disagree, everything on earth is about making money in some form, so this statement is quite anodyne. There is something else going on in academia besides greed - proof is that everyone who works there is poor.
- Sabine "Capitalism is good, actually" Hossenfelder. One more example of why natural scientists would be well served to occasionally listen to a social scientist.
I love your no-BS approach, your directness, and your intrinsic honesty. Keep doing what you're doing, you are clearly very good at it and it's highly appreciated by a lot of people in here. 💪
Hi Sabine, I’m a third year PhD student in bioengineering and I just want to say thanks for making this video. You’re the only person who I’ve heard describe exactly how I feel about academia. My dream has died too and most of the time I feel crazy because no one else seems to feel the same way, but thank you for making me feel less alone. You are brave and lovable ❤️
All this makes me happy that I'm "just" a practical nurse (as we call it here in Finland) and never had the drive for academy studies. I'm in a job that I really like and enjoy, even tho money ain't great, no stress etc at all tho :)
I'm in my second year of an evolution/genetics PhD. My lab group and the biology faculty is pretty communal and this sentiment of cynicism is common around us. We're kind of aware this is all one big passion project, and some of us might become rockstars but others are like those Disney channel celebrities who disappear after 5 years and show up working at a small town car dealership. Not sure if anyone's actually considering continuing in academia. A lot are looking at industry or government employment (our department is marine and conservation biology, in a country where seafood and agriculture are major exports).
This is what turned my away from astronomy as a late teen. In the past few years, I was questioning that decision, but you've confirmed that I made the right one.
I turned away from astronomy too but mostly due to my lack of talent in the math and sciences. But my love and dedication to it never has wavered. Thanks for sharing
I have loved your absolute candor and conviction since I started reading your articles while you were at the Perimeter Institute. I too have had a similar academic journey as yours. My dream died too and I am glad that it did because I was miserable by the time I finished my two postdocs. I had to evolve and adapt, and now I am happy where I am. I thank you for sharing your experience and continuing to share your physics knowledge with the world.
She has been promoting this channel for years dont listen to the narrative she is pushing. She has been ALL about being a youtuber for years now for sure her work has dropped off look at the amount of time she puts in this channel!
A bit too much? this is the worst example of a video this year. Sabine has been pushing this channel at the expense if actual research for years now any science realeated issue on this channel is fraught with innaccurate information and borderline lies.
@@LA_HA It might not matter. It might be comparative literature. The system is so entrenched. The one university president and his/her pet projects may have only slight impact on what is expected and what gets done.
@@wendyleeconnelly2939 True and that's what I'm saying. The choices given in the type of candidates has a lot to say about what is going on within that institution. This is directly tied to what's happening in the PS/K-12 school system. What's happening there? In short, traditional values and education have been replaced with "progressive" values and disinterest in educating school children due to CRT and leftist ideological organizations that openly brag about how they're not in the education business anymore. They're in the political business now and going forward. This is Taught to students, who then go to college, graduate with this mentality and belief system, and then become college employees and professors. The connection is there for anyone who takes a moment to look. Except there's a problem... Thinking isn't taught. In fact, it's banned
@@LA_HAwrong, for instance CRT is a college course. Next progressive values I guess by that you mean critical thinking skills and a focus on S.T.E.M. It’s funny because traditional values and education immediately brings to mind religious schools where if the science doesn’t fit your 1500 year old horror anthology than the science must be wrong. Also what do you mean by traditional education , the humors, leach therapy, miasma, aroma therapy, chiropractors , or maybe phrenology. I am however sorry that conservatives long ago lost in the market place of ideas I just wish you guys would stop trying to sell people on your SECOND lost cause movement. We are not going to go back in time there is a reason progress is the root word of progressive. This time of traditional thinking wasn’t so great by the way most people call it the dark ages where positing a new theory might get you thrown in ye olde gaol maybe just for suggesting a non heliocentric view of the universe.
@@geneduffy [Edited for clarity] Thank you. I'm so glad you did exactly what you did. Otherwise, I would have wasted my time thinking an actual conversation was possible. Good Day
You aren't a failure in our eyes. I figured out that academia everywhere was set up as a political pyramid with just a very small and pointy top a long long time ago, and knew that I would not be able to do well there, even though I liked that sort of work, a lot. Keep up the great work!
I hate that the caption says you failed. I also had to change careers, my dream also died, but we didn't fail. How is this failing? You reach 1 million people with a video, you love doing this and you adapted to a messed up situation. You use your knowledge to something good and useful and that is more than many people can ever reach.
My dad was a scientist, and I watched his constant struggle with politics and funding. He had a stress-related heart attack at 50; he survived it, but was never the same afterwards.
I'm sorry for your dad! Hope his heart recovering and he takes care of himself better. Nothing is more precious than our health, not even our job or idealism.
This matches up exactly with my 16 years at NASA. A colleague of mine called it "playing the doctor game", because all the PhD's were battling each other for the few secure jobs while the majority languished as grantees.
"Science" (Which means "through the knowledge of")...literally means being open to truth, wanting to explore the actual truth and to want to know the truth.
The other one, opposite one (cannot name the term because of the censor), is the desire for money, grants, more grants, desiring to promote a problem rather than a solution to keep a job, propagating biases and being afraid to look in another direction out of fear of being chastised and reprimanded.
This is precisely how The $ystem weeds out scientists w/ character standing on principle vs. those who'll readily sell out (i.e. produce & publish the results The $ystem wants). 😉
You are amazing! Loved hearing your honest, heartfelt story. To be honest, it also confirms my impressions of the ridiculous "theories" being tossed out in physics. They have made no discernable progress in the last 40 years. Vert sad...
Start with some real science and you will NO LONGER STRUGGLE: Vacuum Ambient EM Field Dipole Theory aka Quantum Inertial Dipole Theory aka Graviton Theory aka Dark Mass / Energy Theory aka Vacuum Zero Point Energy Theory aka PLANCK PARTICLE THEORY is T.O.E. postulated by the Germans and brought to fruition by US DoD via Defense Contractors like Lockheed that solved TOE so the Pentagon gave them cart blanche on CASH to designed and build working Quantum Field Densification Drives aka HFGWGs and they solved during technical material science issues during SDI STAR WARS Weapons Programs of the 1980s and 90s and the result is "UAPs" aka Hypersonic Weapons in the news for years! Work EM FIELD DRIVES have been flying for MORE THAN 4 DECADES! Now You Know Too! #FiringRoom1
When I was a grad student, I saw how the brilliant, wonderful postdocs were worn down. Not by their bosses or their science, but by the system. And after 4+ years as postdocs, they were still earning less than brand new public school teachers. We love our science but have to make a living, too.
@@casualnerdjason6678 You have the background for understanding physics now you need to take your knowledge to the edgy side of physics that is making great strides in understanding the workings of our reality. Materialism is as dead as the Big Bang is now. The new frontier is of a Conscious Universe where observation collapses the wave function into particles and atoms which creates matter as we have seen over and over again in the double slit experiments. Good luck on your journey. Remember it is always better to abandon a sinking ship early rather than later.
I achieved my PhD in philosophy when I was in my 40s. I'm an ex miner. After graduation, I became a security guard until retirement. My PhD was a classy route to poverty. So I'm glad you posted this. Dr. does look good on my drivers licence.😅
The wife of the US president is also a Doctor. She's a school teacher with a doctorate in education and demands that people refer to her as "Doctor". The title is meaningless.
From a former aspiring astronomer I also felt like my dream died when I couldn’t get into academia. But that’s life and thank you for sharing! You made me feel better with my current situation knowing how honest you are. I respect that a lot. I do enjoy your videos because they allow me to think differently from all these other science videos that all almost all the same.
Like you, I wanted to become an astronomer. It was my mom who convinced me that it wasn't a practical field for most, particularly a woman. I studied udied computers and database design instead and never regretted it. Astronomy can be a hobby.
From the obituary of Peter Higgs, Daily Telegraph, April 9, 2024 Higgs formally retired in 1996, having long complained that the university [Edinburgh] only kept him on just in case his work won a Nobel Prize. He was horrified when in 2017 the university named the Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics in his honour, insisting that in today’s climate he would be unemployable in academia. “I don’t think I would be regarded as productive enough,” he said, pointing out that the entire output of his career amounted to barely a dozen published papers. “A message would go round the department, ‘Please give a list of your recent publications’. And I would send back a statement, ‘None’,” he said.
Thank you for being honest. This was the main theme in the movie "the Whale". Every one is so afraid to be honest. But it offers a beautiful reflection of ourselves to see the struggles others have been through. "Admiration is our polite recognition of another's resemblance of ourselves". - Ambrose Bierce "We never remark any passion or principle in others, of which in some degree or other, we may not find a parallel in ourselves". - Hume Thank you for your story..
Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy: In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely.
@@wallacegrommet9343 That's a bit deceptive. Some of those administrators support instruction. Some support research grants. Sabina isn't complaining about research load as much as research priorities.
Thank you for sharing your experiences. Brave people such as yourself need to be honest about the state of physics and academia in order for it to change.
Nice quote, I did not know this. To be fair, in my experience academic management did care about science, in so far as it relates to their own interests at least. Since the issues in academia (and academic publishing) go beyond each individual institution, however, I suppose it's easy to assign blame elsewhere and perpetuate the system rather than even try to change it. This perpetuation is, incidentally of course, also to the personal benefit of academic management.
Thank you for posting this! I am 82, left the US for Germany in 1965, earned my PhD with work at a Max Planck Institute and after a 12 year stint at the MPI I got a pure research position at a major German university. I was an electron microscopist, so a lot of people needed my help. I managed to publish 100+ papers and never had to write a grant proposal. I finally became disillusioned with science in general and just wound up helping others with their research. I also struggled to help my female coworkers get the credit they deserved for the work they did. Science was always more of a hobby for me. I write this just to say, your mileage may vary. I'm sorry you had such a bitter experience, but you have taken the bull by the horns and certainly have a greater scientific impact now than if you had just gone on in research. I love your videos and your sense of humour. Liebe Grüße aus dem kühlen hessischen Vogelsberg.
I believe I had the pleasure of reading one of your papers. Good to see people of science remain around it, even when retired. All the best to you good sir!
You are so good! So happy I found you on RU-vid. Thank you for being such a good educator and making Quantum Physics easy to understand ❤ You are making difference by helping people like me to learn to understand and love science. It feels great to understand what you say.
Frank and honest espousal, as we have come to expect, thank you. I watch you for understandable insights for my layman's brain. My wife, who is a leading academic in her field, uses you as a go to source when she needs a quick precis of subjects she is not familiar with and thinks highly of your presentations, (she doesn't think highly of many so take it as a complement). Keep up the good work.
Given the system appears to be so broken, and given it’s the people’s money at work, what could the people do to demand change? Does this have to stay broken forever?
@@berniehaberemeier2053 -- Excellent questions! To which I humbly add one more: Is the academic establishment even worth trying to fix, or do we need to replace it with something better?
@@berniehaberemeier2053spreading awareness helps. (Knowing is half the battle) But I've seen various proposals that would change the incentive structure to support good science; rather than Shitposting in scientific journals for grants. As for how to get people to adopt these new incentives? I think things will have to get worse before they get better. People are going to keep doing things just the way they are until they can't anymore.
This video helped me process the feeling of mourning I have felt since I left academia (straight after my PhD, last year). I feel happier without the bullshit, but at the same time I did not realise emotionally that my dream died. I left academia with the rational choice that I did not want to spend my life writing bullshit grants and bullshit papers, but at the same time it is sad that I found no way to find a way to be in academia and do something that I thought mattered. I loved studying for my Master's, but I hated my PhD when it became all about getting money and writing papers "in a way that would please the reviewers". Thank you Sabine for this video, truly.
I worked in a particle-physics lab for eight years and can confirm everything you said. My boss was female and the most senior Ph.D physicist there, but her male colleagues refused to call her "Doctor" even while trying to imitate her work (which was solid gold). This was in Canada; eventually she moved to Sweden and was much better treated there.
I'm a PhD. physicist who never really had any hope of a career in academia. I really appreciate your honesty and telling it like it is. I have always found academia to be pretentious, arrogant, and intellectually stuffy. Thank you for making this video. You've earned my respect.
Hopefully you didn't get a job as a "Calibration Technician" for a company that does NIST certification of equipment. So many physics majors with BS degrees seem to enter that job market.
I was a PhD student, but I only finished with my masters. This was due to the lack of consistency between classes and the PhD exam. They would put problems on there that even the professors could not solve. They had an extra credit point system to wear a few published papers prior to the exam, you would be given credit towards the exam. There was at least one student who never took the exam and passed because they had enough papers within two years. and this is only because the professor was putting that graduate students name on the papers, even though they just started.
Unfortunately, this IS a universal story in academia. It's the dirty little secret that never seems to be talked about. Despite all that, I'm glad you have found a place for yourself and choose to share your thoughts and opinions with us all. Thank you for putting this video out!
It is spoken about, but those outside the system .. do not get heard. Listen carefully to what she says. While a bit harsh to say, she *did* know what they were doing was wrong, and she played along with it, until they bit her.
Fenomenal true exposed. Dear Sabine you are so great, worry do not, you have imense quality and you are an exceptional person. The reward will come and one day you will be happy with the output, I am sure you are happy with what you are doing now and be pleased cause it is giving you satisfaction, you do very nice, it is another road in your career. One foot on the back one step ahead. Many people know your works and they follow your career and path and they like you the way you are.
It's not really a dirty little secret. There are lots of ways to observe it, even as an undergrad if you work in someone's lab, some people who will confess especially if you ask the right questions, maybe not in physics departments because physicists have that personality. Sabine came from a family of accountants, they had some idea that money makes the world go round. Although the exact nature of academic research is something you have to experience it to understand. An outsider who doesn't know the field at an expert level won't know how much garbage is produced that serves merely to clog up the intellectual pipeline.
@@ronankelly4471 I don't know if I can blame Sabine though, she is but a human like us, and human need food on the table, especially for their family. I would like to imagine Scientist are just normal people who aren't particularly noble, nor should we expect them to be.
Many thanks Sabine. This is your best and most powerful session ever. But, first, a congratulations to you, for being able to rise around that mess and find a new career. My wife and I love what you do. You're a voice of truth, clarity, and sanity that's not easy to find today. Secondly, you finally helped me personally to get over the regret I've carried around for almost 50 years for not continuing my career in academic physics. I had a small dose of the environment you describe, and bailed out earlier than you did. But somehow, I always felt I'd failed. When the truth is (as one of the other commenters below notes) it was actually the system that failed me, and you. Yes, I felt my dream died, like yours. But what I now feel really happened was I looked around with open adult eyes, woke up, grew up, and moved on. Like you did. I'm retired now but found a career elsewhere. Politics is around us everywhere. But the snobbery and pettiness of academic politics is just beyond infantile and stupid. Keep doing what you're doing, and again, many, many thanks.
You have not failed, "The System" is failing us all. Thank you Sabine for trying to broaden our horizons. Hopefully this brave outreach will start some meaningful conversation.
The sad part is that "the system" is made up of us, the academic people. We prioritize money, greed, and power, and in turn, make the life of other lower-level people miserable. Then, we blame "the system".
Same with NGO's honestly. A lot of people, social sciences degrees and similar stuff, who are so passionate to work with communities, with underpriviliged people, to try to approach existing issues with new techniques, are absolutely annihilated by the grant-money procedure. Just write billions of pages of bullshit, measure absolute irrelevant stats, write mind-numbing reports, and end up wasting 75% of your energy and time on all of this, and only 25% actually doing what you want to do and are actually applying for funding.
The really important part is that forum cretins will keep parroting "Peer reviews!" when such "trusted" institutions don't even have the minimal digital literacy, and I mean Harvards, too. Total rebuilding of scholarship is inevitable.
The sad part is that the system is made up of us, the academic people; we prioritize money, greed, and power, and in turn, make the life of other lower-level people miserable. Then, we blame the system.
Speaking as retired full professor (social sciences) at a research university in the in USA I fully support your decision. You play a vital role as a public intellectual helping to educate non-specialists about the state of scientific inquiry in the physical sciences. Your RU-vid videos reach many more people - several orders of magnitude - than typical research publications read by a handful of specialists. So I say Bravo! Keep up the good work.
@@lighthousesaunders7242 "Respected Popperian" bro hardly any academics of philosophy take Popper seriously. But yes, if you take Popper seriously, then you have to reject sociology and economics, and some of biology and climatology would also be on shaky grounds.
Thank you! Your life story inspired me immensely to be very careful with the balance between dreams and reality. Yours is not a sad story, you were failed by the system and sharing the experience will help a lot of people!
Near the end of my PhD, my advisor wanted me to take a paper I wrote for PRL and write a longer one for PRC and I told him I didn't feel like there was really anything more to say for our work. I later felt bad as he ended up not getting tenure which left me in a weird state as I finished my degree without a local advisor and thus no advocate or mentor at the university. I ended up set loose as soon as the paperwork was signed on my diploma. I ended up like a lot of physicists, working in finance, and after getting married and having two children, there really wasn't any going back. Plus the realization that my notion of what academia is like was really, like yours, more of a romantic dream rather than the reality. I don't really miss academia, I miss what I thought academia was supposed to be.
How did you made your skills as a physicist applicable to finance? It’s obviously transferable to those that know but employers don’t always fall under that category
@@EyanZ1997 Well, in the mid-1990s when I finished, that was not really true. Physicists were desirable for implementing numerical models, especially if they had software skill. Since I worked for two years in software before grad school, and did a lot of modeling in grad school, it was an easy sell.
Female biologist over 40 from Germany here. That's exactly how I see it. Not only from my own experience, but also from that of many acquaintances. At the beginning, you're quite happy that you can do what you like without being bothered. By the time you write your thesis at the latest, you realize the difficulties of the system that you describe. I was also irritated by the inaccuracy with which results are produced, at least in biology. As soon as you are in the system, you also see the incompetence (technical, organizational, human) of other researchers. I often had the impression that some were simply in the right place at the right time and were just willing to play along with this application circus. As a woman, it's particularly difficult if you want to start a family. It's hardly possible without help, including financial help, from grandparents. I know some who have made it at least some way, but only with the help of their parents. Yes, the system is weak. I've seen many excellent young researchers leave because they didn't want to play this game. Nevertheless, I have also met nice, very competent colleagues who have made it - but very few.
You're supposed to be able to have a husband bring you, the mother the resources to give birth and raise your child. We have always been able to do this until the petrol dollar was invented and bankers realized they would need more workers or the system would crash too soon. One parent gets the resources and contributes to society. The other parent raises the child and contributes to your family. Corporations have demanded that both parents be tapped for work and our children have suffered dearly for it. In Ireland it's actually in their constitution that should this ever happen they have a right to dissolve the gov and start over(should a mother ever be forced to work in order to raise her child as this is the entire point of society, we know we can make a society where only one parent needs to work and so any society where 2 must is a failure and they KNEW THIS). I don't think they enforce it or they just give welfare checks to them. Regardless, only serfs and indentured servants were made to have mothers work. We have been enslaved and told it was empowering.
I have nothing but joy in listening to your life story. Many of us have had to adapt to life as we live and our dissatisfaction is increasing. Thinking outside the box... always.
Just wanted to say posting this video was the right thing to do. Thanks for sharing something so personal but so relevant in today’s discussion about academia.
After 18 years, this is my first comment (and likely last comment) on RU-vid. Thank you for posting this. I don't work in academia, but so much of the world feels this way. I have always admired your forthright courage, and I am saddened that somehow, academia cannot find a way to benefit from your tremendous intellect, talents, and convictions. Good luck out there!
crs, sometimes I understand your reluctance to comment. I have left reasonable, helpful comments, and someone took them the wrong way. On occasion I tried to follow up, but too often got more anger back. Now I generally ignore angry comments, and move on with my life. I have seen other RU-vidrs talking about some of the problems with academia. There are comments to this video in which they talk about leaving academia for other careers, such as medical, software, or industry. Unfortunately, nothing unique about this video.
Yeah, spending days in YT 😂then playing victim card because life isn't easy. But she's not the only one, YT star physicists love to shine, but end up bitter and angry since they don't hand out Nobel prizes for clicks. And calling others bs (the terrible system that gave you free education) is easy, not so easy when its own
You are my hero, Sabine! I used to criticize you making vblogs that are not physics related. However, after your explanation in this video, I am absolutely OK with whatever topic you want to cover from now on. You are a true scientist. 👍👍👍
It would have been such a shame, had you not posted this video. I think your experience needed to be told and you're such a refreshing voice to listen to. Everything happens for a reason and I feel you are making the right impact. I stumbled upon your video by chance but it immediately made me want to subscribe to your channel.
The International Space Federation (ISF) is happy to encourage and support independent researchers and educators working on fundamental physics problems, such as the ones Dr. Hossenfelder has been publishing and educating on for years now.
Your profile says that you are working on "harnessing quantum vacuum energy as a sustainable power source." What does that mean? Sounds awfully similar to the zero-point energy nonsense that crackpots love to bring up. What does your "federation" do, other than sell bonds?
I love your honesty. My brother got a PhD in theoretical physics from an Ivy League university and he felt the same way you do. He left academia a while ago and works in software now, but he still does his physics and math research every day in his spare time. I admire him a lot.
And thats why number of patents in Western countries decreased in last years. Chinese mastered it team work long time ago and thrive because of it, while here its all divide and conquer of talented motivated people
@@tatjana7008 What? US issued patents are a historic high. Also the number of patents issued has zero connection with fundamental physics research - the measure is peer reviewed publications.
@@Lavabug first of all, Sabine is not from US, she tells about experience in Germany and Europe. Second, number of confirmed patents is much important then applications, and China leads there. Third, science is interconnected and discoveries in fundamental physics might influence practical applications as well. Thats why I do theoretical computer science, because it can influence every branch of science. About papers and publications, many chairs in my university interconnected with industry, and they often end up in patents.
@@tatjana7008 The US issues more utilities patents than any other country, and many Chinese enterprises seek US patents as well. Practical applications have little to do with fundamental science, they are an accident. If you're using patent number to measure scientific progress, you have no knowledge of how science works or what counts as innovation. Patents only measure commercial products, not the generation of knowledge which far outpaces what patents indicate (I am a former patent examiner).
Great video Sabine, I love your RU-vid channel! I am 71 year old male physicist who experienced everything you talk about in this video. In particular I saw persistent discrimination against my female colleagues.
Fantastic video and thank you for saying this. From someone that has been in academia while I have not been I have observed the bureaucracy from the outside and have challenged it openly, only to be dismissed as not being "intellectual enough" to have that thought or opinion.
All I can say is that at my University where I am an Emeritus Professor of Physics, we discuss at the coffee break practically every new RU-vid that you post. I am sorry for the problems that you have had getting an academic position, because you really deserve one considering your intellect. But you are probably gettiing more readers than you would with academic publications. Keep up the good work.
For me as an interested layperson and follower of SH that´s really interesting to hear, thanks. I assumed that just she would be muzzled in the established physics community.
@@Thomas-gk42 people are not "muzzled"... the problem to get academic position you are basically judged if you bring in money, either via notoriety (so students because you got some prize or somethign) or via grants. As young scientist, you are generally handicapped for both. Academic position, unless you are tenure track somehow (rare like unicorns), has very little job security and that job security is tied to how much money *you* bring in. If you can consistently bring in multiples of money than they pay you, you may be offered a tenure position. Heck, you can say almost whatever you want as long as money keeps flowing to the "institution".
Outside of academic textbooks, the average academic publication gets less than 10,000 readers - so yes, she has far more viewers and listeners here than she ever would have.
@@hardopinions Thank you for your explanation. Tough I´m self-employed craftsman, I was always fascinated by astrophysics and QM. Since I read Hawking´s "Brief History of Time" and Weinberg´s "The First three Minutes" a long time is gone. Sometime, I intuitively "felt", that something´s going wrong in the foundation of physics and lost most of my interest. All these highly sepuculative fantasies about multiverses, susy-particles, axions, extra dimensions..., kinda infaltion of infaltion theories. Then two years ago I stumbled randomly over Dr. Hossenfelder´s book "Lost in Math" in which she explains and reasons very accurately what I, with my lack in math knowledge, just could "feel". Since then I follow her work and couraged engagement. Tough I love to pay my tax for new insights in the understanding of nature and our existance, I think, if people like me loose their interest in science, the anti-science crowd will increase, and then hard times will begin for science. For me it´s a shame, that in so many years, no one did fund the interesting table experiments about the measurement process in QM, that SH suggests since many years now. Wish you all the best.
@@hardopinions Thank you for the reply.Tough I´m self-employed craftsman, I was always fascinated by astrophysics and QM. Since I read Hawking´s "Brief History of Time" and Weinberg´s "The First three Minutes" a long time passed. Sometime over the years, I intuitively "felt", that something´s going wrong in the foundation of physics, and I lost most of my interest. All these highly speculative fantasies of multiverses, susy-particles, axions, roled extra dimensions..., kinda infaltion of inflation theories. Then two years ago I randomly stumbled over Dr. Hossenfelder´s book "Lost in Math" in which she explains very accurately what I, with my lack of math knowledge, only could "feel". Since then I follow her work and her couraged engagement. Though I love to pay my tax for new insights in the understanding of nature and our existance, I think, if people like me loose their interest in science, the anti-science crowd will grow, and then, hard times will come for science. For me, it´s a shame, that for such a long time, no one did fund the interesting table experiments about the measurement process in QM, that SH suggests since many years now. Wish you all the best.
I'm a gardener with a lay interest in physics. Gardening is no bullshit in an otherwise cynical world. It makes for good health both physical and mental. I already had enough bullshit as an undergrad. The boffins careened off into ideological space and lost touch with the natural world, and all the brain-work made me depressed, so I started digging holes, moving rocks and planting shrubs, and this is a much happier place. I'm glad you escaped that miserable, dishonest path and took the path of truth. It is an inspiring story, and I'm a big fan. Most inspiring comments section here, too.
I just discovered your channel today watching your commentary on String theory and its history. I love your videos and they’ve reminded me why I find physics so fascinating. You’re brilliant and I think you’re serving humanity and your mental health much better by bringing these issues and concepts you love to an audience who appreciates your passion more than some stuffy asshats on a review board.
As someone who's been struggling with the trajectory of my career, I thank you whole heartedly for posting this video. You are an amazingly strong person.
Thank you for your work on RU-vid. You touch millions of people, some of which will become the next Einstein thanks to you. I'm excited every day about your next video.
As an unemployed former multiple postdoc, I feel her pain. This emotional and actual support here above is epic. I wish I too could give such financial gift. The honesty in the video was refreshing, the absurdity of academia failed her, not the other way around. It’s bull****
Glad you left the ending in; that sums up everything you said in one sentence. _"Societal pressures too often make me unable to speak, but here at least I can choose what I say."_
We will in fact, never know if Sabine can actually choose what she can say on RU-vid until the point she get’s regularly de-monetised or de-platformed. Rumble is where she’d be if in fact she did want to comment in a non-RU-vid compliant way. Sabine is simply just operating in a field that is less socio-politically contentious. She’s far too intelligent to imagine her sitting in Plato’s cage with her back to the light, which makes that final statement very puzzling. Rather than underscoring her position, it undermines the viewer’s confidence that she truly understands the assaults on freedom of thought and expression and journalistic investigation that so very very many are experiencing right now.
The fact that this statement is apparently no longer in the video is incredibly suspicious. I assume Sabine was either was forced to edit it or did so out of concern that those "societal pressures" were going to come to bear on her.
It's 10:23 AM where I'm settled right now, and I want to say that it's a blessing to come across your video at the beginning of my day, as it was a blessing that you did NOT decide NOT to post this video. Alhamdulillah (الحمد لله, Thanks to Allah) I came here; your words did ease many old (and recent) pains in my heart!
I am glad you posted the video! As a female academic approaching retirement (and not with a pension), I can definitely relate to what you experienced. With 24,614 comments as of my posting, it is unlikely that you will see this, but THANK YOU.
When you hit 25-30 you start seeing most professions in modern society are rackets in some sort. Science, business, politics, even mechanic shops. Etc..
Just takes an enormous amount of work to become the next schemer. Every craft takes belief and most of our lives we work to give people relief. It is noble because we are fragile creatures. In the and, everything is, indeed, at least a bit, alright.
Dropped out of my PhD six years ago. Still struggling with the alcohol and tobacco addiction I took from those three miserable years. Constantly made to feel worthless and not doing enough. My career in industry has been amazing and constantly rewarding. Academia needs to change.
There are so many people stuck in long, unhappy marriages because the hard part is not the divorce itself but to admit that they made the wrong choice/wasted their time. You were strong, you realized it was not right and left. You can be proud. Time flies and soon these years will be distant memories, substituted by new, happier ones. Fight for yourself you deserve it and you are worth it. It's the opposite: this bullshit is not worth having you. And btw I don't know what a PhD tells you about a person but I don't think it's intelligence tbh. Maybe it's resilience or endurance... I think in this academia world not playing their game is (street) smarter..
My son is gifted, he excelled in high school we delivered to the prestigious Uni he enrolled in, a young, fit and able young man with extraordinary intellect. The Uni almost destroyed him.
Dropped out of biochem to do industrial radiography. No regrets financially- but wow, I loved biochem so much. Just the thought of 8-10 years of extremely hard schooling with tons of debt, only to hold a proverbial beggars cup to fund my research and the institution, and also with very little take home pay, was more than I could bear. I also felt like me and my colleagues were not really on a team, everyone wants to one up each other, everyone is competing for the same money. As I became adjusted to what academia really was all about, I was no longer happy with my career direction. Biochem is now only a hobby, building up a nice home lab. 1000% academia needs to change. I was so passionate but simply could not continue, I cried all the way back from the dean’s office and the whole ride home. Never was more lost in my life until that point. That was what I always loved.
Dropped out a year in. It's one of the best decisions I ever made. I moved in to language assessing and teaching for the University instead. Academia is a game, but it's a game covered with a safe friendly progressive face. Universities in my country only care about bringing in international students, so I pivoted. I gave up on a dream, but the dream was an illusion anyway.
The fact that what you are describing is an experience universal enough for me to relate to the point where I am specheless (have in mind I am in the other side of the world in the completely diferent field of social sciences) shows how important is for people like you to share their experiences THANK YOU!!!
Never doubt yourself in this respect. You've just encountered the true face of the current academic establishment. You spoke nothing but the plain truth not more, not less, unfortunately.
Also a retired academic. I had decent employment, was intellectually challenged, had more free time to accomplish what I wanted than I ever would have found in any other job, but at the same time was always disappointed by the lack of collegiality and any sense of cohesiveness in the department. The milieu - populated with tremendous egos, some earned, some not so much - made for a very lonely existence. I did my research, taught my courses and went home, spending as little time on campus as possible. There were very few friends to be found in such a environment. I loved my students - the only real saving grace. Thanks for your videos.
Hey, sad to hear that. This sounds like bad luck, but you are definitly not alone. I build a new team at a company, interviewed many phd‘s. The easiest way to get them excited, was telling them that they would work with others on a common goal. I could literally see the spark in their eyes, as if they saw light for the first time after 3 years. I myself got lucky, my time during my phd was great. Insanenly interesting topic, bde ent success in my work and outstanding colleges.
The only way to get a sense of cohesiveness was to threaten to merge the department... the only time Architects seem to get along is when you suggest that the department might be replaced with a double degree of Arts and Engineering.
You lasted longer than I did... finished my PhD (having survived broken bones, deaths, years overseas research, changes in Committee, and a mother who said, "...but you are still unmarried") I quit academia and moved to Italy to milk cows and make wine. Now I write novels. I do miss the intellectualism. but not the politics. Love you, Sabine!
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing. I took a gap year between getting my bachelor’s and going to graduate school. It’s now been a five-year gap year because I thought better of it after meeting lots of people already in the meat grinder. I sometimes wonder where my career would be, but I’ve found myself on a path more interesting and worthwhile to me.
@@Weberbros1 heck yeah! Thanks! Rachel Hoffman, SALTINE (Otis Books, 2021) No self-help, no politics, no trauma: just humor and humanity for smart adults who need a mental vacation...
Academia's loss, our gain. Really appreciate your courage, honesty, sharing your passion for science. and the brilliant way you explain difficult concepts with great humor. Thanks again
I'm glad you posted this! I'm retired as a physics professor, but did so early. I spent more than half my time crafting grants and got peanuts back if they got funded. My lab limped along with about a quarter of the funding it needed to keep going (poor equipment, poor staff, poor everything). The woman thing was also a problem. The department I ended up in at the university also didn't want to hire me, then the Dean's office paid my salary. Lots of jealousy, scrutiny, and gossip (men gossip worse than women if you ask me). They were lusting after another researcher to join them, a woman. We were friends. When she found out they didn't hire me, she said, "no". Big blow to their egos. I could go on, but know that your story is not unusual. Thank you for sharing.
As a former physics professor, can you still do the stuff you learned in Analysis 1? Because EVERYONE i know cannot do/ teach analysis 1, god even the one with a masters in Aerospace Engineeering and the one doing his Phd in Chemestry cannot, for the love of god, explain how the heck to proof a formula by Induction, and all the others who passed the Analysis1 course (from at least 4other Universities in germany) also have no clue... like why is Analysis 1 in every natural science (and even my CS ) major when nobody, exept the math professor, can explain/ do it..... why are we subjected to that course if anyone's gonna forget everything after passing the course anyway? ;also 2 of my friends passed Analysis 2 & 3 before they passed analysis 1, it literally has a 50-90% fail rate depending on the prof.
@@odin6108 Man. I had big trouble with Analysis 1 too. And i can't remember anything from it 🤣 My grade in ana 1 was 3.7 in the third try. (which is only a D+ in american grade system). Just do it anyhow and then forget it^^
As a disillusioned academic who retired years too early even after tenure and professorship, I agree 💯 Unless you are recognized as an Einstein or Dirac, you need to bring in money however you can (hopefully without cheating).
Except that even Einstein and Dirac today would be required to get sufficient grant funding for their respective institutions or their research will go nowhere.
Even Einstein didn't get much benefits or acceptance "in" the academy, he got a job as a patent office clerk, check your history however he did became a professor later on
Thank you for your honesty. I have similar experiences in academia. But once one is disillusioned about it, you can focus on things that really matter and not follow the social pressure.
I agree with you entirely. I walked away from this weird world of writing papers in 1971, utterly deceived by the rat race of the conflict between publishing and keeping things secret to prevent someone else publishing before you. Expanding human knowledge was not the priority - it was just an immoral competition for grant money.
Thank you for posting the video after all, sadly, I've noticed so much over the past few years about what is not going right in academia. I also worry about the medical research, not just in the light of the late pandemic, but to do with myths about what we should be eating and the medical health of children.
