What PhD area of study is most/least useful to society??

[1f3_2kf2]

Clearly:

Most useful: Computer Science. The information age is just beginning.

Honorable mention: Philosophy.

Lease useful: American Studies

Honorable mention: Guitar and Lute Studies (they offer this at my university... LUTE!?)

What do YOU think?

[fuzzylogician]

This is not going to end well.

[Pamphilia]

This is not going to end well.

Seconded. Besides, one could make arguments for most OR least useful for *every* discipline.

Edited February 8, 2010 by Pamphilia

[jacib]

Seconded. Besides, one could make arguments for most OR least useful for *every* discipline.

Which will end up longer: this thread or the race ethnicity one?

[gurumaster8899]

Most useful: Engineering

Least useful: Everything else

Such a question is pointless really, because it will diverge into what makes a society successful...which is a too complex question to have any appeasing answer...

[Sparky]

Most useful: Statistics.

Which should be blatantly, bloodily, disastrously obvious to everyone who has been through the results search a zillion times to calculate exactly what day the odds are greatest you will hear from a particular program, depending on date or day of the week (adjusting for year) and based on whether the program sends out acceptances and rejections on the same day, or if it accepts in waves, or--

Oh, wait. You said, most useful to society...

[kahlan_amnell]

This is not going to end well.

Agreed. Anyone can argue that most fields are useless, or useful. It is pretty much all opinion.

[RedPotato]

A professor of mine once made a compelling argument that his field (fine arts) advanced humanity and that all other fields were too "stuck in the present".

Not that I am bias either way, but he did get a lot of attention for that.

[shai]

Most Useful : not getting a PhD

Least useful : 5 years in school with the goal of being in a position of accpeting future prospective students to 5 years in school with the goal of...

Seriously, haven't you had enough of useful/useless debate with your parents what you decided to go to school in the first place ?

[pea-jay]

Most useful: Any program that leads to gainful employment post graduation. Or improves the lives of others.

Least useful: The program that has the worst post-graduation prospects for employment and/or no benefit to others. Cant say what that special program is, but it's surely out there.

Edited February 8, 2010 by pea-jay

[kahlan_amnell]

A professor of mine once made a compelling argument that his field (fine arts) advanced humanity and that all other fields were too "stuck in the present".

Not that I am bias either way, but he did get a lot of attention for that.

No, you are not the abstract concept of bias, though you could be biased. (Sorry, grammatical pet peeve. No offense intended. I can't count how many times I've had to correct the use of the word bias on student papers.)

[RedPotato]

No, you are not the abstract concept of bias, though you could be biased.

Gah! My mistake.... now if only I could figure out how to edit my post and correct that.

[luar de ouro]

Most useful: That which empowers us to discover the answer to "which area of study is most/least useful to society??"

Lease useful: Everything else

[1f3_2kf2]

Most useful: That which empowers us to discover the answer to "which area of study is most/least useful to society??"

Lease useful: Everything else

so... political science / philosophy of law?

:\

[Summit_Bid]

Most Useful: Cinema/Film Studies

Least Useful: Cinema/Film Studies

[liszt85]

Most useful: http://www.hotcoursesabroad.com/study/training-degrees/international/phd/wine-making-industrial-courses/slevel/15/cgory/wm.324-4/sin/ct/programs.html

[Katzenmusik]

How are you defining "useful"? What implication, if any, should we draw from these most/least useful rankings?

I would argue that a plurality of disciplines is essential. You could perhaps say that, oh, maybe med school is the most "useful." But does that mean everyone who wants to be useful should become a doctor? Isn't it actually preferable for us to have a diverse group of individuals in our society--historians, lute players, biologists and so on--to address our varying human needs?

Edited February 10, 2010 by Katzenmusik

[ScreamingHairyArmadillo]

How are you defining "useful"? What implication, if any, should we draw from these most/least useful rankings?

I would argue that a plurality of disciplines is essential. You could perhaps say that, oh, maybe med school is the most "useful." But does that mean everyone who wants to be useful should become a doctor? Isn't it actually preferable for us to have a diverse group of individuals in our society--historians, lute players, biologists and so on--to address our varying human needs?

But does lute playing necessitate a PhD? I agree there are many facets to "human need" (read Western needs), but does each require a subset of Doctors of Philosophy as representation of "usefulness"?

[katalytik]

Most useful: adding novel knowledge to human understanding

Least useful: not adding anything useful to society

[JerryLandis]

People who tease those in other majors for working towards "useless" degrees should just be thankful that we're not doing the same subject as they are, and saturating their job market with more useful people.

My father, who is a doctor, constantly mocks me for studying a completely useless subject. When I point out at at least I won't be miserable for my entire adult life like he's been, he just frowns and walks away.

Very few well-respected jobs are useful these days. All the useful people - farmers, people who work in manufacturing jobs, plumbers, construction workers, electricians, etc. are those who are less respected for having received less education, and for being paid less. The one exception seems to be doctors. People pursuing careers in law or business like to sneer about how little money I'll make, but what they accomplish in their careers will likely be just as "useless" as my accomplishments. In fact, they may be even more useless, because at least someone following a more intellectually stimulating career path can have the satisfaction of, well, intellectual fulfillment.

As a society, it seems many of us, at least those with better educations, work in useless professions, getting paid to sit all day and fill out paperwork. So yeah, what I want to do may not be very practical, but unless someone has a truly useful job, I don't bother listening to the criticism.

[kahlan_amnell]

Gah! My mistake.... now if only I could figure out how to edit my post and correct that.

The option to edit posts is only available for a certain amount of time after the post it made, and after that the post can not be edited.

Don't worry about it. I felt kind of silly posting to point out your mistake there, but I see it so often in student papers that it really gets to me sometimes.

[intextrovert]

I wasn't going to respond to this thread with anything more than a sigh - I'm so tired of academic grudge matches. We have more in common than this question recognizes (and man, I resent that tagline!). But I was preparing for my 12th grade class tomorrow, and found a perfect quotation that reminded me of this thread. So I refer you to Tom Stoppard, Arcadia, and its interdisciplinary, academic cast of characters:

Hannah: It's all trivial - your grouse (science), my hermit (history), Bernard's Byron (literature). Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's the wanting to know that makes us matter.

Can't we all just get along?

Edited February 10, 2010 by intextrovert

[Pamphilia]

But does lute playing necessitate a PhD?

Yes.

[coyabean]

Most useful: Statistics.

Which should be blatantly, bloodily, disastrously obvious to everyone who has been through the results search a zillion times to calculate exactly what day the odds are greatest you will hear from a particular program, depending on date or day of the week (adjusting for year) and based on whether the program sends out acceptances and rejections on the same day, or if it accepts in waves, or--

Oh, wait. You said, most useful to society...

LOL

Agreed. Anyone can argue that most fields are useless, or useful. It is pretty much all opinion.

And, basically.

[coyabean]

People who tease those in other majors for working towards "useless" degrees should just be thankful that we're not doing the same subject as they are, and saturating their job market with more useful people.

My father, who is a doctor, constantly mocks me for studying a completely useless subject. When I point out at at least I won't be miserable for my entire adult life like he's been, he just frowns and walks away.

Very few well-respected jobs are useful these days. All the useful people - farmers, people who work in manufacturing jobs, plumbers, construction workers, electricians, etc. are those who are less respected for having received less education, and for being paid less. The one exception seems to be doctors. People pursuing careers in law or business like to sneer about how little money I'll make, but what they accomplish in their careers will likely be just as "useless" as my accomplishments. In fact, they may be even more useless, because at least someone following a more intellectually stimulating career path can have the satisfaction of, well, intellectual fulfillment.

As a society, it seems many of us, at least those with better educations, work in useless professions, getting paid to sit all day and fill out paperwork. So yeah, what I want to do may not be very practical, but unless someone has a truly useful job, I don't bother listening to the criticism.

I may want to kiss you for this response.

I am reminded of how many "well-educated" people I have known over the years:

The VP that didn't know that canned vegetables were already cooked.

The copywriter that couldn't sew a button on a shirt.

The law professor that could not get a verb and subject to agree with the laws of gravity much less each other.

The tv producer that thought money coming out of an ATM machine was magic.

The HR VP that could not change a flat tire.

All this pretense makes me itch. Useful people make things grow and work.