> who wrote a somewhat successful OS kernel I hope this is a joke. Linux runs on toasters, rockets, phones, tablets, TVs, and systems I can't even think of rig

> who wrote a somewhat successful OS kernel I hope this is a joke. Linux runs on toasters, rockets, phones, tablets, TVs, and systems I can't even think of right now. There's a popular public debate about an OS professor, whose book is studied all over the world (and I had to study from it as well) publicly berating him for his monolithic kernel design over a proper modular kernel. We are lucky he stood his ground regardless. > Instead, you have a socially acceptable opportunity to study whatever interests you, and you hopefully gain the attitude that you can learn whatever you need to learn This isn't unique to a research university. My retired neighbor, who has no academic background except the education he got as a fighter pilot in the USAF, studies whatever interests him all the time. In March, he reached out to me to learn about Wi-Fi HaLow so we could broadcast internet to his remote security cameras, and I believe he's teaching himself YOLO object recognition in August to detect people from those feeds. Humans have always had the ability to learn whatever they needed to learn. Fire, the wheel, and farming happened thousands of years ago, long before the first research university was established. In fact, when I visit a modern research university, I find it claustrophobic. Unless you are part of the groupthink and do research on pre-approved subjects, you're very likely to be ostracized until you either "fall back in line" or quit.