Editing Science Coolies

{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1885740712681259460
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Ah. Why are European-Americans suddenly so inferior at math since like 1998? Why are the people of Newton, [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]], [[Paul Dirac|Dirac]], [[Francis Crick|Crick]], [[Richard Feynman|Feynman]], Heisenberg etc suddenly no longer able to do first rate science? Excellent question!

Do you want the brutal answer? Those "white kids" are being forced into trying to figure out how to capture the value created by those brown kids, because STEM careers in actual research have cratered in prestige, freedom, support and compensation. It's awful. But true. Do you want to raise a serf? 

I'm torn. Which is why I fight for scientists to capture wealth; science is my life, but I cannot stand the exploitation and abuse.

You actually know this already, you just don't realize it. 
How many STEM researchers and research scientists have you seen at Mar-a-Lago in photos and stories? Name them. Try.

When you think modern AI do you think about the 8 authors of the Transformer LLM architecture that changed our entire world with one paper? Can you name them? Any of them? Or do you think Altman, Musk, Zuckerberg, etc. like the rest of us (myself included)? Be honest. You think C-Suite or Sand Hill road VCs.

The researchers simply vanish or become businessmen.

We too often erase the people who do the actual STEM research. The PhD most responsible for the GFP revolution in biology (Douglas Prasher) got to drive a shuttle bus in Alabama for his career. Those who exploited his research felt so bad that they flew him to Stokholm to watch *them* get the Nobel prize. It's totally insane. No one knows this because we keep looking to Billionaires...those who capture the most value...to represent STEM. 

STEM rests on "[[Science Coolies|SCIENCE COOLIES]]". That is what a UCSF lab head (PI) called his army of Chinese and Indian biologists in an interview with me around 2000:  "My Science Coolies tell me..."

The absence of white kids is because they generally come from native English speaking families before the 1965 immigration act that have been in the US a long time. Thus they get accurate information that grueling STEM research careers are now a terrible investment due to STEM EMPLOYER practices (e.g. [[H-1B Visa|H-1B]], illegal collusion, lobbying) and the abandonment of STEM by the Federal Government beginning with the [[Mansfield Amendment (1969)|Mansfield ammendment]] 50+ years ago. They will eventually almost all move from the lab bench, the blackboard and the command line to signing pieces of paper in VC shops or Private Equity or some such higher value endeavor. We in STEM are all being pushed from creating the value to capturing the value. It's awful.

"गोरे बच्चे यहाँ क्या कर रहे हैं?" or something like it is what I heard in New Jersey when our family traveled to the science fair. Literally asking "Why are there white kids here?" Can you imagine?? In New Jersey! 

Those Tamil and Bengali Brahmins from English speaking households will soon leave research too, to be replaced by Nepalese and Biharis. Then they will all get the message as well and search for non-research jobs.

Before long you will see a push for Vietnamese and Cambodians. The Nigerians, Philipinos  and Ethiopeans will be welcomed, but will soon depart in turn as the STEM employers continue to search for servants and 'coolies' anywhere they can find them. All using one bizarre mantra "The Best and the Brightest!"

Because the employers treat researchers like servants. Fungible geeks. That is the culture we have to break.

Those brilliant brown American kids winning our Olympiads will dream of flying Business Class. Maybe even First Class one day. Those equally brilliant white kids who would have loved to do science leaving the olympiads, now dream of not even being on the same airplane as long as they are also avoiding coach.

Sorry "Cornered Hindu". I hate it. But you asked. Don't shoot the messenger.
|timestamp=5:23 PM · Feb 1, 2025
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== Related Pages ==

* [[H-1B Visa]]
* [[Sharp Minds vs Sharp Elbows]]
* [[Extractocrats]]
* [[Extractive Elite]]
* [[Mansfield Amendment (1969)]]

[[Category:Concepts]]