207 karma · joined May 7, 2014
1. Complex systems tend to produce complex responses (not solutions) to problems.
2. Great advances are not produced by systems designed to produce great advances.
https://www.google.com/search?q=phd+position+site%3Ahttps%3A...
Some PhD openings may not even be advertised, so politely asking (i.e. no generic spamming) existing students or faculty members is the only way to find out.
1. (Idealized) "I/we did a great job solving that important problem."
2. (Current Academia?) "Phew! I/we finally scored another paper at [top venue]." ("And I can now graduate / get a tenure / [something academic career related].")
* An applied scientist would feel great from solving someone's important problem -- i.e. saving lives, increasing revenue and/or decreasing costs at the end of the day.
* A theoretician would feel great from solving a recognized important problem.
On one hand, the author writes enthusiastically about her side-projects / internships / hobbies. On the other hand, almost all academic remarks end with:
"Our paper got rejected / accepted at [top venue]. We felt sad / relieved."
Without any further remarks about that work -- i.e. it's all "publish or perish" no matter what.
In that way, it sounds as if one was doing research for the sake of producing papers rather than solving important problems / contributing to our civilization by increasing its stock of knowledge. Perhaps that is the sad state of the current academia.