America’s Broken Brain Trust

In general I have a great deal of respect for Thomas Friedman. But on the issues of globalization and the fate of technology in this country, he always, always, always misses the mark by a good mile or more. In today’s op-ed in the New York Times, Advice From Grandma, I held out some hope that he might get it right - but nope, he did it again.

In truth, most of the article was about how American government had become paralized by poor governance. And how the lack of vibrant government was stifling imagination and creativity  - our single best asset.  Nurting said creativity leads to innovation and innovation can bring us back to life. CHECK!  I agree completely.

Friedman goes on to say  “What I increasingly fear today is that America is only able to produce “suboptimal” responses to its biggest problems — education, debt, financial regulation, health care, energy and environment.” CHECK!

He sights money in politics, gerrymandering, cable TV, the internet (both of which foster extreme views) and a business community which forms a powerful lobby that works only for its own ends.  CHECK AGAIN!

Friedman was on a roll. But what he doesn’t address is what NEEDS to happen. Although he is correct in saying that Americans need to be willing to “sacrifice” that’s a tough sell for a middle class that has been pummelled by a free market cowboy mentality that has stripped them of health care,  job security, income, and any real source of firm footing with respect to their finances for the forseeable future.

What Friedman needed to do was “connect the dots.”  What is needed from government now is REAL opportunities for the creative.  You see Friedman was wrong to suggest that  creativity and innovation can not be  commoditized.  They have been - by corporate powers, and the higher ups in accademia that insisted we needed MORE foreign nationals working as engineers and scientists in this country.  To those entities that insisted globalization of such high-earning fields in science and engineering could be off-shored with no ill effects.   The cheapening of the higher education in these critical areas has commoditized the innovaters to nothingness.  Congratulations America! By listening to those vested interests  - you have created a race to the bottom for our most talented thinkers.  Today, biomedical labs are nothing more than high-tech sweat-shops where the best and brightest toil 70 hours a week for less than minimu wage.

My life started down one path and ended up willy-nilly someplace else.  I saw the writing on the wall during the last two years of my doctoral training.  The opportunities that were available when I entered the Ph.D. pipeline in 1998 were no longer available.  We had a glut of scienteists, most of them  not American born,  coming out of the pipeline as newly minted Ph.D.’s just as I was about to get my own sheepskin.   I knew I couldn’t survive on 10 years of post-docing at under $40k a year - so I was in quite a jam. That was all I was trained for - and that training had extended 7. 5 long years.  Getting a job in another venue wasn’t going to be easy.

The result…apart from teaching as an adjunct, I haven’t held a pipet or run a PCR in nearly five years. I haven’t “thought” science in a long, long time.  Ideas for projects and experiments have run fallow. My innovative mind has turned its talents to marketing plans that will increase the flow of clients in my real estate practice.  This is a far cry from what I intended.  I have made it work for me but few would argue that I would be making a better contribution to our society as a scientist.  There was on tiny problem with that though.   I never considered taking a Ph.D. to be a vow of poverty.  I wasn’t looking for vast wealth - but a decent living after all those years of train is a “must.” This is particularly true in what we have become - an “ownership” society.

Programs that encourage the growth of Americans in science, engineering and technology need to recognize some basic facts. The training is long and arduous.  It delays the potential of a decent salary until the candidate is well into their thirties or even their forties.  Therefore - the jobs and the money had better be there or these newly minted scientists and engineers are up the creek without a paddle.   If these things do not happen,  it becomes a no-can-do scenario for all but the independently wealthy and the foreign nationals that haven’t returned home (a reverse brain drain.)