Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!neuron.ai.toronto.edu!steeg Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.bio-matrix From: steeg@ai.toronto.edu ("Evan W. Steeg") Subject: Re: Oh foolish supporters of genome sequencing Message-ID: <91Feb12.122159edt.1181@neuron.ai.toronto.edu> Summary: There is science outside of academia Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto References: <9102111908.AA07006@genbank.bio.net> <5695@husc6.harvard.edu> Date: 12 Feb 91 17:22:18 GMT Lines: 61 In article kristoff@genbank.bio.net (David Kristofferson) writes: > >ARGGHHH 8-)!!!! Perhaps my writing is extremely unclear, but, after a >couple of attempts at clarification, this "paraphrase" still shows a >misunderstanding of my position. I hope others who did not have a >direct involvement in this exchange understood what I was trying to >say. It was never my intention to try and "convert" Dr. Ellington, >but only to speak to those scientists who were *already* tired of >"real science" and let them know that, despite the trauma one can >experience in deciding to leave research, there are other fulfilling >career options out there. Enough said on this topic. > >Dave Kristofferson Dr. Kristofferson, Good stuff! Keep the asbestos suit on for a while longer, but there are people out here who understand and appreciate what you've been trying to say. I did my degrees in math and CS and am now finishing my PhD in CS by working on problems in "computational biology" (sequence analysis and RNA/protein structure prediction). While I love "real science" and I know that my heart will always quicken when I open up a _Science_ or _Nature_, I am fed up and frustrated with many aspects of academic science. I will finish my doctorate and may even do a postdoc or some such if I get a really good offer, but I know that I might turn my attention before long to work in industry and also in science and technology policy. Just as I don't narrowly define myself as *only* a computer scientist, but rather as a *problem-solver* trained in a few fields for interesting interdisciplinary work, similarly I don't see myself as *just* a scientist but rather as a scientifically trained thinker (well, I try,), problem-solver, and world citizen. I, too, have seen the lives of friends in science *crumble* (temporarily, thank goodness,) when their ride on the Real Science Fast Track[tm] came to a sudden halt, due to personal or funding reasons, and they had *no* idea that there is anything else they could do with their intelligence, diligence, and energy. The narrow, all-or-nothing views of many of our colleagues sadden me, because their lack of breadth threatens not only to impoverish their own lives and careers but also diminishes the quality of scientific research, which increasingly requires diverse backgrounds, vivid imagination across disciplines, and flexibility w.r.t where and how science is done. -- Evan -- Evan W. Steeg (416) 978-7321 steeg@ai.toronto.edu (CSnet,UUCP,Bitnet) Dept of Computer Science steeg@ai.utoronto (other Bitnet) University of Toronto, steeg@ai.toronto.cdn (EAN X.400) Toronto, Canada M5S 1A4 {seismo,watmath}!ai.toronto.edu!steeg