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Comment by whatshisface | Hacker News Reader

In what universe are researchers elites and where do I apply for their work visa?

Elite doesn't mean wealthy. It means superior, and when we talk about scientific research we're talking about work being done by people with elite training compared to the layman.

This is why we talk about peer review including the scientific community, not the community of all people. It is an elite group with specific skills.

Elite is not equivalent to rich. In particular their high level of training and education puts them into a special social class that very much makes them elite compared to the rest of society.

Maybe PhDs or PostDocs are not elites but professors they work for, definitely are elites. If you need work visa you are not in elite category. It is like asking how to apply visa to be senator, governor, member of congress or millionaire entrepreneur and so on.

You could replace “elite” with “professional class.”

Researchers and scientists are absolutely not elites. However, they almost exclusively rely on the ruling class for their funding, for their platforms, for their careers, and thus they become de facto toadies of the elite.

Just go see how well the ruling class is treating the doctors that are actually fighting covid on the front lines, showing it's a treatable ailment, saving lives. Since their perspectives don't align with Team Elite's clear agenda (inject everyone, boosters forever!), they are ridiculed, shamed, relegated to alternative or "low status" press.

> Researchers and scientists are absolutely not elites. However, they almost exclusively rely on the ruling class for their funding, for their platforms, for their careers, and thus they become de facto toadies of the elite.

You’re confusing economic class and social class. PhDs might not be rich, but they have a much elevated social status compared to the vast majority of the populace.

PhDs in general may have a very minor elevation in status compared to other social groups. There are many, many PhDs, many of them working shitty jobs outside their fields. Think outside STEM, wherein generations of poor saps were sold on the professorial life when entering their PhD program but now have their Gender Studies or Literature PhD proudly on their shared apartment wall while they drive bus for the city of Columbus.

I agree they aren’t elites, which is why I’m suggesting the term “professional” instead of “scientific elite” in the GP post above.

The professional class are the foot soldiers of the elite class. I subscribe to the view put forth in “Disciplined Minds,” a great book on the subject.

https://louisville.edu/journal/workplace/martinreview.html

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