Ok so to compare to my experience in a STEM PhD in the UK, which may be different:
False. Loads of people leave and everyone things that’s normal and laudable, assuming they go on to do something else they value
Part a is true, part b is just not true, you can socialize with whomever you want.
Nope, you are in fact being paid
Its absolutely possible to write up before your money runs out, and many people do. Some don’t but that’s uhh frankly because they’re lazy.
Yeah maybe, sure
Yeah
Maybe? But not much more than any other job. You can quit if you don’t like it, and if your advisor gets a reputation for being mean, they’ll find it hard to hire new people.
Not really? Maybe? IDK. Maybe if you extend “special” to mean “good at biology” and “higher calling” to mean “important research”.
This seems importantly different from cultish specialness and higher callings in that they’re approximately true
7 is instructive, I think. It actually is important whether or not your group’s beliefs are true, or at least close-to-true, because if the beliefs are true then that’s a strong signal the process generating those beliefs is anchored in reality. This means there’s a limit on how far those beliefs can go, since they’ll (hopefully) stay tied to the set of all possible true belief systems.
For example, if your group “believes the world will end within your lifetime” then it’s pretty important whether that group believes this due to climate change or due to a biblical apocalypse. Lumping those groups together would be quite silly, for the most part, even though both are likely false.
Likewise, it makes sense to distinguish PhD students believing they are special (good at biology) and answering a higher calling (important research) from MAPLE members believing they are special (the only hope for humanity’s spiritual salvation) and answering a higher calling (contacting the techregore through samadi).
Ok so to compare to my experience in a STEM PhD in the UK, which may be different:
False. Loads of people leave and everyone things that’s normal and laudable, assuming they go on to do something else they value
Part a is true, part b is just not true, you can socialize with whomever you want.
Nope, you are in fact being paid
Its absolutely possible to write up before your money runs out, and many people do. Some don’t but that’s uhh frankly because they’re lazy.
Yeah maybe, sure
Yeah
Maybe? But not much more than any other job. You can quit if you don’t like it, and if your advisor gets a reputation for being mean, they’ll find it hard to hire new people.
Not really? Maybe? IDK. Maybe if you extend “special” to mean “good at biology” and “higher calling” to mean “important research”.
This seems importantly different from cultish specialness and higher callings in that they’re approximately true
7 is instructive, I think. It actually is important whether or not your group’s beliefs are true, or at least close-to-true, because if the beliefs are true then that’s a strong signal the process generating those beliefs is anchored in reality. This means there’s a limit on how far those beliefs can go, since they’ll (hopefully) stay tied to the set of all possible true belief systems.
For example, if your group “believes the world will end within your lifetime” then it’s pretty important whether that group believes this due to climate change or due to a biblical apocalypse. Lumping those groups together would be quite silly, for the most part, even though both are likely false.
Likewise, it makes sense to distinguish PhD students believing they are special (good at biology) and answering a higher calling (important research) from MAPLE members believing they are special (the only hope for humanity’s spiritual salvation) and answering a higher calling (contacting the techregore through samadi).