[HN Gopher] Don't Become a Scientist (1999)
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       Don't Become a Scientist (1999)
        
       Author : abhinavsns
       Score  : 27 points
       Date   : 2025-09-29 19:16 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (yangxiao.cs.ua.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (yangxiao.cs.ua.edu)
        
       | nickpsecurity wrote:
       | I think it could be better titled "Don't Become an Academic
       | Professional or Professional Scientist." They have good reasons
       | for this.
       | 
       | Whereas, you can do science as a hobby in your spare time for
       | free or up to your chosen budget. You can publish whatever you
       | want on your web sites, social media, etc. You can often get
       | advice or peer review from professional scientists by asking
       | them. You might pay them for their time if you feel your work was
       | worth it.
        
         | bluSCALE4 wrote:
         | Feels to me a combination of old web with new web tricks is the
         | key. People used to update obscure hobby details but there
         | really was no way to donate. Creators didn't even think to
         | bother to ask. All this democratization talk seems to be the
         | solution.
        
           | btrettel wrote:
           | I don't think crowdfunding is a good funding source for
           | science in general. Crowdfunding's going to overemphasize
           | already popular and easy to explain science at the expense of
           | everything else. Boring sounding and unfamiliar stuff like
           | the research I'd like to do would not succeed.
        
       | PlunderBunny wrote:
       | (1999)
        
         | brolumir wrote:
         | While this is clearly an old post, I'm not sure about the
         | actual date. On the bottom it says 1999, but there's also a
         | citation for an article from 2001.
         | 
         | > For many more details consult the Young Scientists' Network
         | or read the account in the May, 2001 issue of the Washington
         | Monthly.
        
         | drjasonharrison wrote:
         | The first copy of this essay captured by the Internet Archive
         | was in October of 2001:
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20011013031756/http://wuphys.wus...
         | 
         | The same timestamp at the bottom of the essay can be found on
         | other pages by Professor Katz, such as his list of publications
         | which includes papers from 2019. I suspect that the timestamp
         | of 1999 is incorrect.
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20191206233227/https://web.physi...
        
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