Comments on: The academic’s work is never done

By: utopiaorbust

utopiaorbust — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:53:48 +0000

It’s like the parable of Thales who fell into a well while looking up at the stars.

Maybe the trick is just to shrug it off as if you meant to appear that absentminded, this way you avoid awkward moments with people who aren’t used to that level of rigor.

By: eli

eli — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 08:05:02 +0000

I realize that subjectively this kind of extreme commitment doesn’t feel like a complaint — not to me either — but objectively, the idea of constant work is comic and dystopian, a ludicrous managerial fantasy. I guess that’s a contradiction, but perhaps one we are too deeply invested in to feel bothered by.

Which is disturbing.

By: Moacir

Moacir — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 23:23:28 +0000

I’ve always maintained that I’m basically *always* working, just at varying levels of productivity and aimed at several different goals. I’m always working since I’m, effectively, always learning/reading.

The only time I feel this is not the case (for more than an hour or so at a time) is when I’m out in social settings with non-academics (nightclub, bar, beach).

And this isn’t a complaint. Nothing like a complaint.

The idea of not thinking about my academic interests–at all–for a full week is… incomprehensible. Unimaginable.

And this is coming from someone as woefully unproductive (academically) as me.