5ywjdPumpkinPrincess
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Jul 27, 2026 2:30 PM
5ywjdPumpkinPrincess
1889
101
27
myfriendkaroshi
Michael should have written a more interesting dissertation.
DiracsDelta
The audacity of claiming nobody reads peer reviewed research….
This is the mark of someone who has never done source citation, MLA, APA, Chicago or otherwise.
Cyclicus
Says the guy with a PhD, who publicly attributes his success to it:
https://tribuneonlineng.com/education-has-opened-doors-for-me-that-i-did-not-even-know-existed-michael-taiwo-entrepreneur-founder-of-mts/
Dirtbag. Oh, sorry--Dirtbag, PhD.
RElGNMAN
A key benefit includes solving critical national technology choke points, building direct ties to high-tech industries, and bypassing theoretical "paper mills"
Scobragon
Let me guess, the school owns all the rights to the product after they're done.
KuldFyt
That's generally baked into the contract for a PhD student anyway, with specific outs managed by an institutional TTO to allow partial ownership of IP by the discoverer (incentivizing researchers to document discoveries internally, and thereby make it impossible to walk out with their ideas). This would simply remove the need to write and defend a thesis (I.E. - remove the need to actually develop the field expertise and complete the work of a PhD) for anyone who had a patentable idea.
Smidge204
How short-sighted. Just because you don't read/understand it, doesn't mean it has no value. Products require basic research.
spitfires2000
Fundamental research? Who needs that boring stuff? /s
ThatOtherGirlYouKnow
Wow. No. This is not how science sciences.
dohcohv
At this point our knowledge is so far ahead of what we can practically do, results won't appear for decades since they are all small blocks building off each other. Solid state lithium and sodium batteries were theorized decades ago and research has been progressing and we are now to the point where they may be commercially viable soon. However, if you discourage the initial research, then you just set yourself back decades or more.
invisiblemaniac
Eh. It could go either way. The purpose of the thesis, ostensibly, is to both expand human knowledge so that future generations might be able to use it as a launching point for further research, and MOSTLY to prove the candidate knows their ass from a hole in the ground and won't be an embarrassment.
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea, in theory, but the converse argument is why bother making a product no one wants or needs?
meme2zombie
Also all PHDs already involved inventing something new. It may not be a completed full "product" but it would be something (a process, a mechanism, a way to analyze, etc). To get a PHD you need to advance your field (among other things).
animatronicChristmasChickens
Maybe people should be reading more
DickLaurantIsDead
My product would be a steam-powered toothbrush
kyleesha
No... They shouldn't. Being a good engineer and inventing something that may or may not be useful is not the same as a PhD.
ProfessorMuChao
Totally get the sentiment (and largely agree), but if I'm reading this right, they're specifically referring to this as an alternative to a written dissertation, not an entire PhD program.
quietwalker
There's a huge difference between making a physical product and advancing understanding even via testing and experimentation that may not translate directly into well, a product.
As an alternative, it's not a horrible idea, but if you look at many of the great scientific achievements, many nobel prizes were not given for products but new knowledge and understanding.
SwampApe75
get to work, student
BranDohCalrissian
What if the products and all sales thereof belong to the school, but it's tuition free for everyone, and if your product really blows up, you get a percentage? Obviously, it would be more beneficial to the individual to patent independently, but my main point is it covers all school costs for every student (maybe after completing a year).
GuitarGeorge
Interesting question, who owns the prototype that gets built. Often times if the project is either funded by the school, or created by someone on a contract with the school, it belongs to the school. Or in this case possibly the Chinese government. I met an engineer who was one of the first creators of solid state hard drives. He missed out on millions and school he worked for owns the patents.
ProfessorMuChao
Depends on how they're defining product. If it means making something new that showcases their engineering knowledge but which may have no real commercial value, or even practical purpose, or may just be a prototype, go for it. If by product they mean it must be something marketable, then nah.
FartsSmellBad
We're talking China here. It's just as likely they're duplicating already existing Western products.
LariCheltsy
Imagine graduating top of your class for a squishy foam stick of butter!
seenunseen
Practical engineering items but it's designed to enhance ingenuity to help china speed past the u.s. un the tech race. Everyone hates on china, but they're smart, they have better infrastructure, cheaper goods. By all accounts the should bypass us, and deservedly so. They have an authoritarian that does make smart moves, we have one that eats glue and rapes kids
ProfessorMuChao
Yeah, it's never black and white. China is certainly not without a host of issues, to put it lightly (see: Uyghur concentration camps). China has also done more than just about any other nation in *rapidly* pulling hundreds of millions of people out of destitute poverty over the last 30-40 years. Definitely not saying that one justifies the other, just that I think that one can (and should) condemn failures and atrocities where necessary, yet also recognize instances of progress.
ProfessorMuChao
^ Since I can't easily edit on here: change "never" to "rarely" black and white.
seenunseen
Hey, those are sparkling reeducation camps and the kids eat free!
DarthAndy
Hey - several people read my thesis. Me, the committee, allegedly my supervisor, and unless she was lying my girlfriend looking for typos. I checked the library and in the last 24 years... no other fucker has had a look.
JackIsLacking
Dont worry. The aliens that discover our remains will read your thesis on why shitless toilets are better than shitters.
DarthAndy
If only it had been that useful
meme2zombie
For engineering that makes sense, though writing a paper on the new product you invented should still be part of it.
Same as getting a PHD in any other field, you need to advance the field in some way.