You guys really helped me..long winded post but i do want to express my sincere gratitude. I am an introvert but even introverts appreciate rare instances of human contact (just not on vacuous tripe like Facebook). I am not
comfortable with too many people but a little respect and motivation from the rare sources help a lot.
I had some really great mentors and collaborators in the NiH system years ago...but I got burnt out because of the stresses of interdisciplinary work...no one to blame but myself...A few scientists tried to mentor me further (like a prof from ca in 2014), but at the end of the day only your own brain can help you. Nicholas Carr's work was eye opening re The Shallows of science I was navigating.
I was in a real slump and working on a paper I will submit by March 31, 2021. But I was bored and in a slump and while I used to track cool labs (all in Europe), it was gloomily while thinking i will never again work on anything fun again..
My work with my 1st postdoc mentor spoilt me for dull work. And rigourous work is hard and takes a mind at peace.
And then I forced myself to start posting here just to force myself to do a science journal club (since I trust you guys implicitly -you are not a Zuckerberg-Chan or a Google or other business education initiative or something hideous like that or "influencers" etc). You are just real Dems and this is a low visibility forum which makes it soothing. And predictably I made some errors- felt like Sarah Palin! And you NNadir specifically encouraged me to post regardless..and for once instead of curling up into a ball of shame, I read the paper through thoroughly, understood 85-90% of it and reposted it. Totally worth it because it was such cool work. Whether what I am doing now works out or not, it will be positive net as any interaction with a good scientist is a net positive.
Thank you for being such a friendly forum. You and smartpatients (a good group i found via du) are the only social media I recognize.
God I hope you are never bought up by Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn etc....i was bummed out when Skinner left and I have a gloomy feeling EarlG and Elad will be next. I hope they sell it to that DuckDuckgo guy, Gabriel Weinberg if they do....or to the Protonmail People..who all have to be Dems.
This really is a safe space for a liberal scientist.And while smart patients is apolitical, there is something so sobering about cancer, that trolls and creeps do not show up there....It is like the old internet..pre Facebook, Twitter etc...a real wild space...not a police state PanOpticon...
It is ineffable..the utility of normal decency...
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