That, actually, is one of the changes in academia that entangles with the quote above: universities are becoming money-making machines and the professoriat becomes the proletariat -- nothing more than salaried employees (notice what's happening to tenure).
Though it would be weird if that were what Taleb was talking about: he has nothing but contempt for the institution of tenure (I think another of Eugine's quotes makes that clear). For Taleb, the proletarianization of professors is a good thing, and presumably he doesn't think that this is the cause of the degeneration (if there is in fact any) of higher education.
presumably he doesn't think that this is the cause of the degeneration (if there is in fact any) of higher education.
True, it's more likely to be a consequence.
If you see yourself primarily as a business with the task of exchanging cheapest-to-deliver services for money, an ossified and unyielding labor force is something you very much do not want.
I suspect that the root of the problem goes to the fact that the universities are supposed to be both centers of research and teaching institutions. It worked well on small scale when the few students were, basically, professors' apprentices. But it doesn't work well for the delivery of education to the masses.
Another month, another rationality quotes thread. The rules are: