7 ms·

I wanna be this guy when I grow up. Seriously, how realistic is it to get a job like this guy's? Open ended, no rules, just solving problems... Most days I'm f

• striking 2y ago
  Before he was a researcher for IBM, he was a "groundbreaking physicist", for which the article provides this as the evidence: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/1998/03/rotating-single-oxygen-molecule https://news.cornell.edu/stories/1998/03/rotating-single-oxy... So, be one of the best in the field, and perhaps folks will trust you to do wild open-ended research forever. I think that sounds like a pretty reasonable deal.
• numeri 2y ago
  Any career in fundamental research is more or less like that. From what I've seen personally, academics and government labs are the two biggest places you can find the most open ended roles. Each comes with their own caveats, of course.
  • esd_g0d 2y ago
    interesting to know. in my limited experience though, in practice, in academia the politics is so heavy (more than in your average workplace) that political matters often overshadow research matters. maybe that is one of the caveats you had in mind. i am curious about government labs though. though it seems country-dependent. how is it different from academia?