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Talking to academia issues?

Benbeezy
Benbeezy
October 2016
edited October 2016
in Community
I am working with some people at my University and they are having issues with me having implants that are not regulated even though it has about 2 steps of separation from the projects I am working with them on.

What is a good way to talk to people in the academic world about this stuff? I can't keep it a secret because I am pretty public online already about it and I don't want them to be caught in a weird situation. But when I mention it to people they shy away from helping me with these other projects. They worry that if I have an implant go bad and it somehow gets some press it could be called into question with a heading like "Student doing research under PhD has implant infection". Of course they do not want anything like that happening, and I also don't want anything like that to happen.

Does anyone else do work at a university and have issues? What about people working on labs or any other bio-medical situation?
Tagged: academia

Comments

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  1. glims
    glims
    First Anniversary Second Anniversary Third Anniversary Fourth Anniversary Fifth Anniversary First Post 10 Posts 100 Posts 500 Posts 1000 Posts You Look Familiar Welcome Committee Final Anniversary Paging Mr. F
    October 2016
    My experiences are to just feel out the situation and then make a call of if I'm going to bother. It's not so much keeping it a secret as it is just not taking the time to engage. If they want to start the conversation, then we talk. Otherwise, unless it's important, why bother?

    Beyond that, bombard them with scientific papers. That usually helps. YMMV based on your region.
  2. Meanderpaul
    Meanderpaul
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    October 2016
    There actually a video that I was just shown with Tim cannon titled illegal surgery to become a cyborg. That's the kind of thing that I think hurt you. All you need is a curious person to google it or YouTube it and that pops up. Now you get red flags everywhere. Like glims said feel it out on a case by case. I only bring it up when I know how someone will react or even if I'm trying to prove a point. Try the whole evidence approach to to also instead of your word. It is academic based people so give them what they know.
  3. JohnDoe
    JohnDoe
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    October 2016
    I feel your fears can be missed placed somewhat; I know a lot of people who I seem less and less crazy to as time goes on, and they do there own research. It takes time for people to be okay with this type of stuff. Aside from that I agree with what has been said elsewhere on this thread. Don't ask don't tell....
  4. Frank
    Frank
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    November 2016
    Remind them how Barry Marshall won his Nobel Prize...
  5. decal
    decal
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    November 2016
    The underlying problem here is that academia is a bureaucracy of tenured professors and administrators.  At some point, someone is going to become concerned about losing their job or otherwise not getting ahead materialistically in life; these are also usually the same personality types that worry too much about what other people "think", regardless of what the reality is. 
  6. katzevonstich
    katzevonstich
    December 2016
    In my experience, it's usually the administrators and People In Charge that are the ones fretting rather than the straight up academics. Most non-admin academics I've dealt with think it's interesting at the least. The academics who've responded the most enthusiastically to my interest in biohacking have been (non-admin) academic librarians and the geologists. Those two groups tend to be made up of a lot of outcasts, body modders, and general weirdos. But again, if they're an admin first (our director is an Admin PhD and just doesn't get how the field works), then I don't bother. Random tangent: The field I just finished is still really antsy about ethics and unregulated, unapproved testing. I had a professor who instructed my class to do a final project on human trials research without approval. It was the first time I was in a field that did human research, so I was new to the process. Turned into an utter shitstorm when the dean found out. That professor is now a prosperity gospel evangelist who claims to heal people with his powers from god.
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