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Keep pushing & don't forget the bigger picture :)

@benjaminjriley.bsky.social

So, like, I heart y’all big time. I’d like you to consider the implicit implication here that only a PhD-level education can push the “frontier of knowledge,” and whether that will strike many as cognitive elitism. Or whether it’s even true, empirically.

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

@maxplanck.de

Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment! You're right, we should have been clearer about the context - the cartoon is actually from 'The Illustrated Guide to a PhD', created as a visual pep talk for PhD students to help them see where their years of narrow focus fit into the bigger picture.

26/2/26, 3:50 pm0 reposts1 like

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

@maxplanck.de

26 Feb

But it's definitely not meant to suggest in any way that a PhD is a prerequisite for advancing human knowledge! The 'push on the boundary' is just a metaphor for the discovery, creativity & curiosity that happens every day, in every field - well beyond academia. Hopefully that clarified our intent!