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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 7th, 2023

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  • I’m not blaming anyone for studying anything. I’m simply stating that the bill for that education will come due and it might be a good idea to have acquired a skill to help pay it if the projected return on investment is non-existent.

    Ever have a conversation with people in your local service industry? I live in a major US city and this is a common story:

    • liked art
    • got into art institute of ___
    • now have 200k of student debt
    • didn’t finish, now work at this bar and another to pay off the debt
    • still dabbles in art but can’t get anything off the ground

    Do you think they’d have advised a younger version of themselves to do something else?

    A nice thing about Physics: quantitative reasoning is a highly valued skill in many paying jobs and something you have to acquire along the way to learning things like QED. The end result of knowing, say, if a neutrino has mass isnt terribly useful.


  • How many successful filmmakers, authors and musicians do you know personally? Let’s keep the bar real low: ones that can feed themselves and retire without supplemental income from a spouse that does something more pragmatic?

    I was a Physicist before leaving for industry. What would you like to know about how science works and how it is funded?


  • Believe it or not, I have several degrees in physics. I worked in the field for a bit then left for industry. I don’t disagree with the premise that diverse educational backgrounds can be a good thing, they are more often than not a fine pathway to being a very interesting bartender buried in crippling student debt. Why not double major in something useful on top of Art History?


  • It’s a tough call. I was as liberal as it gets on my 20s, now I’m in my 40s. I see a lot of people bitching about inequality, injustice etc. that acquired a ton of student loan debt to major in subjects that would very clearly not land them a job.

    Socially, still very liberal. Fiscally? Stop wasting my tax dollars on anything that’s not defense or legit scientific research.