Like I say Clippo there are different kinds of scientists and I'm well aware it is currently a very ruthless profession, as I hear what goes on and quite frankly it sounds like a horrible atmosphere to work in, but it's not all like that, it very much depends on where you work.
My old physics department was probably one of the more laid back ones and across the road was the building where the first computer was invented so it was not the kind of place that didn't produce results, indeed it was the second highest in the country regarding research and got a lot of public funding from the previous Tory government as well. It was the kind of place where a lot of deep thinking took place so no one was at each other's throats. Obviously there is some caution when someone is about to publish something major that someone else would not steal their ideas but it was more a place where people would work together and it meant the sum was greater than the parts, and that was why its research was so good.
Out of the entire department I didn't meet one person like you describe. The closest was one person though that was considered a bit dark and sly and he was a Liberal councillor, but then everyone knew that and so everyone kept a safe distance from him. But on the whole the place worked by mutual trust and respect. You obviously come from something entirely different and more the kind of place where going to work is more like a soldier approaching the battlefield.
__________________
"A government big enough to supply you with everything you need, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have..."
|