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Could Isaac Newton Get a Faculty Job?
An anonymous reader writes "Could Isaac Newton get a faculty job, or is modern society too intolerant of eccentricity? That's one of the questions that Glenn Reynolds asks Neal Stephenson in this interview over at TechCentralstation. Others involve the changing nature of fame in an age of fragmented media, the role of the Seventeenth Century in shaping the modern world, and what it's like to write a book with a fountain pen, in the twenty-first century."
Newton is rumored to have been an uber-asshole. An asshole among assholes. His main trait wasn't that he was eccentric, it was that he was an asshole to each and everyone he met.
It depends on the university and the department chair, but I'm willing to bet that you can find assholes in faculty at any given university.
So yes, Isaac Newton could probably have been hired on despite his assholeness.
The spectre of lawsuits arising from apples to the head would be enough to turn Sir Issac away at the door.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
The HR blimp would call him "overqualified" and middle management would ignore him because his agency told him to "put his education last."
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
If Isaac newton was alive today he would not be a physicist. He would be a laid off geek sitting and reading slashdot. So, the question of whether he would be accepted as faculty is moot.
New year Resolution: Don't change sig this year
If Isaac Newton were alive today he'd most likely be some kind of centuries old mummy-creature. I doubt he could get valet parking, let alone a job.
*Splort*
I bet he would be this no-name Janitor who does complex proofs while mopping the floor and beat up his kindergarden cassmates for kicks.
Oh wait, that was Matt Damon...wrong guy.
I've dirtied my hands writing poetry, for the sake of seduction; that is, for the sake of a useful cause. --Dostoevsky
Excellent point!
I will remember to immediately disgregard anything he says from now on, and consider all of his interviews irrelevant, now that I realize he holds different political views than you!
Whew, and to think, I almost RTFA...
Eccentricity is ok, its the whole dead thing that might make it hard for him to get hired. Then again, with some of the braindead teachers I have had in the past, maybe not.
What do you mean you haven't published anything in over 300 years??
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Ben Franklin would probably get arrested for flying a kite without a license.
maybe he could get together with PBS and host the show named after him...
"Newton's Apple"
Doo doo do do to do doo
Doo doo do do to do doo
Doo doo do do to do doo
c'mon you know the theme
moo.
And why? Because I dared to dream of my own race of atomic monsters, atomic supermen with octagonal shaped bodies that suck blood...."
I have a BS. I guess I have no shot at all.
That's not true. You only need to look at SCO and Microsoft to see the value of BS.
This sig is part of your complete breakfast.
most Universities won't care if you wear your underwear outside of your pants if you manage to do something truly brilliant
... you mean like fly ?
Bitter and proud of it.
No, you just have to look at the big picture.
Billy goes to college, gets degree in Harry Potter then looks for job.
Billy learns that nobody cares about the physics behind quidditch, so he goes on welfare.
Liberals like it when people go on welfare, it lets them focus more money on the welfare system and take it from evil republican CEO's.
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