[Taxacom] A good year indeed!

[Robin Leech]

Well Stephen,if I am part of closely knit department, where cooperation is part of the close knit, 
and IF I were the department head, I would be very chary about bringing in someone who is disruptive, 
and who has a record from several places of employment as being so.  And I will add, "No matter how 
brilliant you are, and no matter how much money comes with you." 

It took a while to develop the close knit.  So, match off how much less brilliance and productive work 
will be lost for the sake to one new disruptive import.

Robin

-----Original Message-----
From: Taxacom [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Stephen Thorpe
Sent: November-13-14 2:01 PM
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu; mivie at montana.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] A good year indeed!

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> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Taxacom] A good year indeed!
 To: 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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 --
 __________________________________________________
 
 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
 
 _______________________________________________
 Taxacom Mailing List
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 Celebrating 27 years of
 Taxacom in 2014.
 
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Celebrating 27 years of Taxacom in 2014.