Basic research is sort of dying out

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In the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, almost all of my students became professors teaching other students. But after the 1970s, almost none of my students became professors, because the universities in the United States were filled. Since 1950 the average lifespan in the developed countries has increased one year every four. It's 60 years since 1950, so people are living on average 15 years longer, including the professors. So today, in 2010, very few professors are retiring, and the students have no place to go. Basic research is sort of dying out because there are no new jobs. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/pioneer-artificial-intelligence.html

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@TuringEquivalent,

This is a similar problem that is happening in many professions.

Boomers are in many of the professional jobs and haven't left much room for younger professionals just starting out. Young professionals have had to go to other countries to find work in their professions or work in non-professional jobs.

With the weak economy and lost retirement funds, Boomers will have to either work much longer than planned, or just retire and hope for the best.

This will leave an experience and leadership void in many professions that is not being planned for and addressed.

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@Butrflynet,

Butrflynet wrote:

This is a similar problem that is happening in many professions.

Boomers are in many of the professional jobs and haven't left much room for younger professionals just starting out. Young professionals have had to go to other countries to find work in their professions or work in non-professional jobs.

With the weak economy and lost retirement funds, Boomers will have to either work much longer than planned, or just retire and hope for the best.

This will leave an experience and leadership void in many professions that is not being planned for and addressed.

One thing I did notice is that the IBM team that created Watson is pretty damn old. Most are in their 40 s, and this is not good. History tell us that innovation comes from people in their early 20 s.

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Basic research is sort of dying out

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