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Comment by ghoomketu | Hacker News Reader

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ghoomketu

> even on the day of their wedding, both made time for lab work.

This would be the definition of pure passion and what it takes to accomplish something like this.

These people are a totally different breed compared to people I know. Kudos to them for their achievements.

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Slight criticism of people you know too :)

I think it is great and I hope they get acknowledged for their work. Or anyone that tries to find solution to the current sorry state.

It helps when you own the business, no? Unless people you know are all founders who happen to like frequent time off.

“Helps” is a funny term. Probably a) “has to as a last line of defense” or b) “can’t reasonably ask anyone else because it’s after hours etc” or c) it’s high conscientiousness.

This probably won’t fly over very well on hacker news but the academic literature on CEOs and their work ethic, even down to physiological changes in their blood/saliva related to cortisol, suggests they work hard in general and make many sacrifices.

I actually cant think of a site where that would fly better, except machiavelli-suntzu-successwin-business-genius.org

Imagine if it wasn't a lab(with all the positive associations of doing science), and instead they were middle managers or accountants. That kind of behavior would be considered unhealthy.

Yes, that would indeed be a different scenario.

Why? Can one not be passionate about accounting?

There's a slight difference between striving to save lives and striving to maximize profits for shareholders.

How many lives were saved by going into the lab on their wedding night, as opposed to the next day?

If an accountant works for Pfizer, aren't they indirectly involved in saving lives too?

I'm not even criticizing the fact that they went into the lab on their wedding night. I'm criticizing how unhealthy behavior that may be called out in other contexts is viewed as not only healthy behavior but commendable behavior if the reader has positive associations with the specific acts of unhealthy behavior.

You have a point but for some people, the sacrifice might be better justified when done with a "higher" goal in mind, like making a scientific breakthrough. That goal might make things that people usually see as important, seem unimportant.

Of course, what justifies the sacrifice is a matter of perspective.

Profits represent investible assets that enable people like this to create startups. Without profits, and the possibility of getting them, this type of research stops.

Sincere thanks to Ugur Sahin and Oezlem Tuereci for their dedication, hard work and incredible achievement.

It depends on the lab work. Particularly when dealing with long-running biology experiments, not keeping up with certain "maintenance" can ruin months of work. And if a researcher is going on a honeymoon, they likely need to do some last-minute preparation for their absence.

Couple goals!

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