[Taxacom] A good year indeed!
Stephen Thorpe
stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz
Thu Nov 13 16:29:12 CST 2014
2014
Or the even dirtier secret that an employee can be both an idiot and an ass if they somehow manage to bring in lots of external funding
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 14/11/14, Michael A. Ivie <mivie at montana.edu> wrote:
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] A good year indeed!
To: "Taxacom" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Received: Friday, 14 November, 2014, 10:01 AM
Dick,
No one wants to admit the dirty little secret,
but we should never
really forget that
among the skills needed to be excellent are those of
personality and ability to politic that allow
one to succeed. A
brilliant scientist
that cannot be tolerated personally will not be good
for our science. They are not
"excellent." Some that are so adept as to
be virtual charlatans can sometime garner
resources that support others
who are
not. It is a total pool issue. As we train students, these
characteristics must be nurtured as well as
others.
Mike
On 11/13/2014 2:35 PM, Richard
Jensen wrote:
> As long as we don't
forget about genetic drift, then there is a kernel
> of truth to what Mike says. And,
unfortunately, there are often
>
instances in which those who survive (get hired,
"earn" tenure), do so
> by
virtue of politics and personalities. I have seen several
such
> cases and colleagues have told me
about others. It's the nature of
>
the beast, and all any of us can do is try our best to
ensure that
> those selected and
retained have succeeded by virtue of the quality of
> their work.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Dick J
>
> On Thu, Nov 13, 2014 at 4:01 PM, Stephen
Thorpe
> <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz
<mailto:stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz>>
wrote:
>
>
Who has the right to decide what is or
isn't "good enough" or
>
"best enough"? If those who end up
with the jobs are by definition
>
the "best enough", then it is
meaningless circularity ...
>
>
>
--------------------------------------------
> On Fri, 14/11/14, Michael
A. Ivie <mivie at montana.edu
> <mailto:mivie at montana.edu>>
wrote:
>
>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] A good year indeed!
> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
<mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
> Received: Friday, 14 November,
2014, 8:32 AM
>
>
Jason,
>
>
On further reflection, I may
>
see where you misunderstood. Social
>
Darwinism is the idea of the survival of the
> fittest. It is absolute,
> and the social
> losers lose because of a fault of
their own.
>
>
This has nothing to do with my
>
comments. It is more the "survival of the
> fit enough." Do not look at
it from the
> individual side,
where the
> underemployed in
> our science cannot be said to be
deficient, but from
> the health
of the science, where those who
>
"win" a job are as an
>
aggregate,
> a highly selected
pool of excellence. This makes things
> grim
>
for any individual, as the
>
"best" might never get a job, but the
"best
>
>
enough" does. However, I am talking
> about the future of insect
> systematics, and
> it is looking solid. Many jobs
this year, and a large
> pool of
excellence.
>
>
Mike
>
>
On
> 11/13/2014 1:00 PM, JF Mate
wrote:
> >>
> As in all human enterprises, the
laws of Malthus apply to
> our
science.Our "reproductive capacity" is far
> higher than the carrying capacity
of our institutions. There
> will
always be a larger supply of propagules than can
> survive (i.e. be provided academic
jobs), and selection will
> take
the best and discard the others, often a majority. Some
> cohorts will have very strong
selection, so that a tiny
>
percentage make it through, and at other times selection
> will be relaxed, and a larger
percentage will make it. Of
>
course, this means that sometimes very excellent
propagules
> will be discarded in
lean times, and less excellent ones
>
will make it through in fat times. However, the
academic
> reproductive rate will
always provide a diverse pool with
>
different attributes and abilities, so that the
overall
> resulting set will be
maximally beneficial to the future.
>
> Mike, you are flogging a dead horse with a
> new stick. Do you think it
> > wise to
> appeal to social darwinism to
support your own personal
> >
opinion?
> >
> > Best
>
>
> > Jason
> >
>
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> >
>
> Celebrating 27 years
> of
Taxacom in 2014.
>
>
--
>
__________________________________________________
>
> Michael A.
Ivie, Ph.D.,
> F.R.E.S.
>
> Montana
Entomology
> Collection
> Marsh Labs, Room 50
> 1911 West Lincoln Street
> NW
>
corner of Lincoln and S.19th
>
Montana State
> University
> Bozeman, MT 59717
> USA
>
> (406)
>
994-4610 (voice)
> (406) 994-6029
(FAX)
> mivie at montana.edu
<mailto:mivie at montana.edu>
>
>
_______________________________________________
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<mailto:Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
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> The Taxacom Archive back to 1992
may be
> searched at: http://taxacom.markmail.org
>
> Celebrating
27 years of
> Taxacom in 2014.
>
>
_______________________________________________
> Taxacom Mailing List
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
<mailto:Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> The Taxacom Archive back
to 1992 may be searched at:
>
http://taxacom.markmail.org
>
>
Celebrating 27 years of Taxacom in 2014.
>
>
>
>
>
--
> Richard Jensen, Professor
> Department of Biology
>
Saint Mary's College
> Notre Dame, IN
46556
--
__________________________________________________
Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D.,
F.R.E.S.
Montana Entomology
Collection
Marsh Labs, Room 50
1911 West Lincoln Street
NW
corner of Lincoln and S.19th
Montana State
University
Bozeman, MT 59717
USA
(406)
994-4610 (voice)
(406) 994-6029 (FAX)
mivie at montana.edu
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