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The Illustrated Guide To What A Ph.D. Is

Posted by ralph on August 10, 2010

Matt Might writes on his blog:

Every fall, I explain to a fresh batch of Ph.D. students what a Ph.D. is.

It’s hard to describe it in words. So, I use pictures.

Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge:

Circle

By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little…

Read More on Matt Might’s blog

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  • Adam

    It's important to show that the little penis is being masturbated continuously, that is what happens when people get a PhD

    Adam, Phnom Penh

  • E.B. Wolf

    As my favorite college professor put it: Ph.D=Piled Higher and Deeper

  • Your Mom

    Earning a Ph.D. requires a lot of work and discipline, which I certainly respect.

    However, I've known Ph.D.s who were brilliant in their narrow field of specialty, but otherwise dumb as a sack of rocks. The economics professor who lived paycheck to paycheck is a favorite memory of mine. Noam Chomsky is a well-known example of this phenomenon — he's a stunning genius in linguistics, but has been caught in so many lies when he speaks to politics that he has almost zero credibility: http://www.paulbogdanor.com/200chomskylies.pdf

    So as a rule of thumb, I'm not awed by Ph.D.s. I appreciate their hard work and insights … but only within their field of expertise. Ph.D.'s don't get a pass from me: I expect them to prove their claims with facts and logical reasoning.

  • emperorreagan

    I like the consistency in making irrelevant comments. A post about Ph.D.s leads straight into an attack on Chomsky – brilliant! Did you give the right's other most favored whipping boy, Zinn, a pass because he's dead?

  • 5by5

    And the diagram should show the knowledge going predominantly to the left, because most Ph.D's are geared towards left-brain thinking, while aggressively ignoring the creativity inherent in other hemisphere. Sir Kenneth Robinson's TED talk illuminates that bit most succinctly:

    http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_...

  • http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

    You mean “He's been caught in so many disagreeable statements that deeply offend the neo-cons whose policies he just publicly outed that the mainstream media refuses to give him the credibility he deserves.”

    Nothing annoys neo-con revisionists like having someone remind them that the goal of their movement is and has always been hegemony for the financial interests that lead America. Cripes…just look up the founders of the movement and read their writings on the subject…its central to their vision. Of course…its impossible to advertise that goal to the 'little people'…because they don't care…which is where appeals to patriotism, fear, xenophobia, religion and everything else comes in. Its the only way to keep the people quiet while the real business gets done. Of course…the 'real business' is criminal conspiracy…they are traitors to the US who do not value the laws of this land…and their round up and execution is called for and overdue.

  • Chonus44

    Thank you.

  • Chonus44

    Thank you.