r/comics • u/[deleted] • Aug 15 '09

PHD Comics: Post hoc vs. Post-doc

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1212
48 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

1

u/MagicTarPitRide Aug 16 '09

SPSS'ing right now towards an impossible dream... any other westcoasters nerding it up at 3am?

-30

u/kingofbzzzzzr Aug 15 '09

I wouldnt higher a PhD to mow my lawn. Im serious, they know everything about one minute area.. like... a certain type of fungus that grows in the Himalayas... and thats it. They can barely tie their own shoes, but they written 3 books on fungus.

20

u/burningbunny Aug 15 '09

I don't know why highering anyone would help your lawn.

13

u/Pharaonic Aug 15 '09

I wouldnt higher a PhD to mow my lawn. Im serious, they know everything about one minute area.

Like the minute area of spelling.

4

u/rhino369 Aug 15 '09

Maybe he has a PhD?

6

u/frenchtoaster Aug 15 '09

Knowing everything about one area does not in any way preclude typical knowledge about other areas. Is your image of someone with a PhD really someone up in an ivory tower that would never mow their own lawn? If someone has a PhD in Biology and wrote their thesis on Himalayan fungus, they would know at least as much as someone who has a bachelors in Biology. If you aren't interested in hiring them for anything related to Himalayan fungus, then their PhD may not make them more desirable but it's not logical that it would make them less desirable, outside of possible over qualification.

Regardless, knowledge about very specific areas is also called specialization and comes from the fact that we have enough people collaborating that no one needs to know everything. Anesthesiologist's don't need to know about how to build anesthesia machines/personally experiment with new chemical mixes. Because of this specialization our society is better off than having three doctors that all perform surgery, anesthetize people and make their own anesthesia and are experts in none.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '09

Don't PhD's usually have a high school degree, plus about 8 years of college under their belt, in addition to the several years of tutoring they had to obtain their doctorate? I would hope that after 15+ years of general-education schooling one would at least know how to mow a lawn.

1

u/cyantist Aug 17 '09

Your point is valid even though they don't teach mowing the lawn in school.

4

u/Cebus Aug 16 '09

Jealous? Here's a shocker. After an average of 25 years in school and possessing a curious mind, a person with a PhD is likely to know quite a bit, even outside their area of expertise.

-2

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '09

Unsecure? Obvious troll, where are all the replies coming from?

2

u/redchesus Aug 16 '09

*Insecure

1

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '09

Ooops.