On the other hand, if you want to get government research grants for your AI work, then having a PhD is definitely a humongous plus...
ben On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 4:55 PM, Terren Suydam <[email protected]> wrote: > > I'm no expert in these matters, but it seems this conversation is lacking > the following point(s). > > Ability to score funding for any venture usually requires salesmanship and > connections. Salesmanship in turn requires that you are able to tell a good > story about your product/approach, and be able to dispel doubts. Charisma > and confidence help, and these can be developed to some extent if you're not > one of the lucky ones who are just natural salesmen. > > So I'd say if your primary concern is scoring funding, a PhD is a costly > way to gain credibility. Credibility can be earned in other ways (such as > having demonstrable results), and other factors may ultimately be more > important, such as the ability to create and develop relationships with the > people in your field who may be in a good position to help you out. > > Terren > > --- On Wed, 12/17/08, YKY (Yan King Yin) <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > On the contrary, getting a PhD is an astoundingly poor > > strategy for raising > > > $$ for a startup. If you have a talent for biz > > sufficient to raise $$ for a > > > startup, you can always get some prof to join your > > team to lend you academic > > > credibility. > > > > > > It is also useful in terms of lending you more > > credibility when you talk > > > about your own wacky research ideas. This may be part > > of YKY's motivation, > > > and it's a genuinely meaningful one. But having > > credibility when talking > > > about research ideas is not particularly well > > correlated with being able to > > > raise business funding. > > > > Getting business funding may be an inherently hard thing to > > do. So, > > other things being equal, spending some time + money on a > > PhD degree > > may still be better than all other options. That's my > > current > > reasoning... > > > > > > ------------------------------------------- > > agi > > Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now > > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ > > Modify Your Subscription: > > https://www.listbox.com/member/?&; > > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com > > > > > > ------------------------------------------- > agi > Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ > Modify Your Subscription: > https://www.listbox.com/member/?&; > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com > -- Ben Goertzel, PhD CEO, Novamente LLC and Biomind LLC Director of Research, SIAI [email protected] "I intend to live forever, or die trying." -- Groucho Marx ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=123753653-47f84b Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
