
 Former Apple VP now turns to a PhD in bioinformatics - ahalan
http://www.hhmi.org/bulletin/feb2012/centrifuge/goldstein_grad_student.html#media
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siavosh
I dropped out of a PhD program because I was disillusioned and never found a
path of value to my group's work. After reading this I really wonder if what
was missing was context and world experience.

So much of what's wrong with a lot of academia is group think and insular
publish/perish mind set. What would make me want to go back at some point in
my future is putting research into a larger context and grounded in my own
experiences of what is truly important and valuable.

~~~
jseliger
_After reading this I really wonder if what was missing was context and world
experience._

"'Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at
it.' -- Albert Einstein" -- from Philip Greenspun's Women In Science:
<http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/women-in-science> .

I would guess the Apple VP has enough money to never have to worry about
money, which probably makes the grad school experience quite different than
yours.

~~~
siavosh
I think this can be very true of theoretical research, but when I entered grad
school I was pretty interested in the applied fields. My problem was I didn't
have substantial industry experience to identify the labs that were doing real
applied work compared to the publishing factories that drew tenuous claims to
the real world to get grants.

~~~
xtacy
Not many graduate students have really substantial industry experience when
they start. Internships help a lot, provided the goal is to learn (and not be
pressurised to publish papers even there. :))

It was probably unfortunate that you didn't like your experience with your
group; but not all groups are like that. It depends on your advisor.

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fredsters_s
I think it's interesting that many believe the next wave of innovation and
value creation will come from BioTech, and the potential implications that
will have for hackers like us.

I don't know about anyone else, but frankly it worries me. The beauty of the
internet revolution + Moore's law has been that barriers to innovation have
become virtually non-existent. It's possible to dream up and build the first
iteration of the next world-beating website with no capital or specific
education.

It seems like the barriers to entry for BioTech innovation, however, will be
multiple. To even participate in that world you need a PhD. I don't know what
this means about the future for hackers like you or I, perhaps nothing. But I
wonder whether this wave of startup innovation will look like a blip on the
radar of normalcy in 50 years' time.

~~~
floggit
There were times when computers were big as a building and it required a
degree to program them too, until the computer revolution came along. Can't
see why the same thing wouldn't happen with biotech.

~~~
mattquinn
You can't possibly compare biotech to the computing industry in terms of where
accessibility to the former is headed. Equipment costs may go down and
education may become more accessible in biotech, but the risks to humans and
property associated with running an entire lab will ensure access to non-
trivial equipment and materials is granted only to those who are capable.

~~~
Estragon
It's getting easier than you might think.[1]

I'm looking forward to someone trying to make bitcoin selling packets of
fluorescent yoghurt bacteria on the Silk Road.

[1] <http://www.indiebiotech.com/?p=152>

------
Create
The world is small.

[https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2000/08/15Genentech-CEO-
Art...](https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2000/08/15Genentech-CEO-Arthur-
Levinson-Joins-Apple-Board-of-Directors.html)

<http://www.sg.hu/kep/2012_02/0218ob1.jpg>

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joshu
Huh. He lives on my street.

