Publish Or Perish
goin' grrrrreaaaattttttttt
Comments (110)
Hah, I just reread this comic. Did Claire wish on a monkey paw or something? https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3752
She just like me fr
So... this lil squirt doesn't want Claire to take the job, not because she'd be bad at it, but because Elizabeth is worried about being found out. When realistically if she just said "hey, give me a problem to fix", they could probably find one worthy of her intellect and the whole thing would be resolved?
What a heel.
It's just occurred to me that Cubetown isn't a place-of-work it's a *place* and therefore should have all the services provided by local government such as social workers and counselors.
I think the problem may lie in the lack of said “local government".
I wonder what would happen if they space-dropped Tilly on Cubetown. Would they organize it in a month?` Or would they be part of the chaos. I kinda think the latter
Irresistible force of order meets immovable object of chaos. The results would be cataclysmic.
Too much pressure on such a young mind. Hope things work out for her.
not what a librarian does. she wouldn't be organizing, so much as documenting what's there.
Yeah, it's very clear that Claire's job will be project manager, supervisor and team mom for the entire town Which means that whatever salary they offer, she should ask to double it, and whatever budget they give her she should ask to have it multiplied by ten. She'll need to build up a whole department for this, and the first thing she need is an HR person to handle the hirding process of the rest of the team.
Here's a crazy thought, Elizabeth... Why don't you talk to Claire yourself. I have no doubt you'll become friends. And having friends is a good start to getting your mind back on track.
She is probably one of those Bene Gesserit Truthsayer witches, and would see right through all the Very Small lies.
This job is sounding like it would be perfect for Marten instead of Claire. He is laid back enough that people would not feel threatened but sensible enough to get people like Liz back on track. And calm enough to keep Cubetown from blowing up the world.
Well, Marten will have to get *some* kind of job in Cubetown if Claire takes hers. He could be the liaison between The Librarian and... well, everyone else.
Aw man, I think this kid needed someone assigned to them entirely to tell them "you're doing just fine, no one hates you, drink some water"
Hydration is seldom a bad idea.
My money is on this is the thing that gets Claire to take on the job, because she can come in and fix all this bullshit.
I get that Claire’s good at organizing, but she’s a LIBRARIAN! Does she even want a job organizing a bunch of out-of-contro scientists and engineers? Will she feel obligated to stay to prevent them from, say, accidentally blowing up the planet? What if she just wanted a job in a nice, quiet, normal library, finding users the books and articles they need?
The latter vocation sounds quite lovely as well as sufficiently world-saving.
Interesting how this forum represents the general public's split between it being the individual's fault for not fixing their own issues and it being society's fault for not supporting them when they needed help. Almost like we're a representative sample! Truth lies down the middle of course.
I feel like even putting it in terms of "fault" is a mistake. It's the sad but predictable outcome of a bunch of shitty preconditions that go far beyond any of the individual actors here.
Props to everyone who guessed what this was about beforehand. *sigh* Liz, you self-centered little goblin queen.
I didn't quite. I had the idea that she was their former librarian. But no, she was just someone who needed a friend, a librarian, some therapy, and at least a couple of people around her to give her some interactions. But at least one update ago maybe two, I was to the point of saying, "Just because you were thrown into a situation with no preparation doesn't mean someone else with inadequate preparation will necessarily fail." Both Liz and Claire were given jobs that were ridiculously challenging simply for the lack of direction. Claire's education gives her some idea of what to do in such a situation. I don't think Liz' did. Science is too open ended. They depend on others to give them direction if they didn't come to the field with their direction already. The number of scientists who do come to the field with their own direction are probably a significant part of why the field doesn't cover this. People with dreams of studying specific things tend to chafe at being told "you need to find your path like so" in my experience.
This is pretty much EXACTLY how I feel in my current job, except without the original expectations or early success. I was hired to fill a desperate need back when the company was pretty small. Since then, we've not only hired more people, but have been bought by a MUCH larger corporation with more resources to replace any piddling work I contribute. For whatever reason, this place keeps ME around, and I contribute little more than a warm body that does grunt work and some very rudimentary data processing. I am 100% certain that Claire would find a role for Elizabeth.
I wager Claire will find this struggle incredibly relatable to her post-grad conflict over becoming a barista. She'll easily recognize that struggles require support, not punishment. I bet Liz needs to be around other intellectuals who can challenge and inspire her. Academia is a sea of ideas, unlike a lonely sub-basement.
Even if those other people are those she considers morons, showing them how to do it right can be her inspiration. It's a very frustrating sort of inspiration, but it works.
I dunno, I feel like organizing Cubetown would ruin it.
If they brought in some business school protochad to organize it, then yes. If Claire starts trying to organize it, and everybody is resistant to the very idea, also yes... but it looks like people are actually enthusiastic about the idea. But if it gets organized *properly*, there are two things that will change: 1. If someone needs something to continue with whatever it is they're doing, *they will actually be able to find it*. 2. If someone has totally run into a wall, someone will be able to reach out to them and offer help, rather than having them languish in a sub-basement. She's never failed before. She's never really needed to ask for help before. If Claire knows her business, discovering this girl will result in her getting the help she needs... whatever that turns out to be.
If that's the sub-basement, what do they call the place where the Director lives? I recall something about taking an elevator to "lightless, crushing ocean depths".
They call it “North Orange, NJ”
Called it. Selfish reasons.
I wouldn't say imposter syndrome is a selfish reason. She contracted it by being selfish, yes, and isolating herself emotionally (saying "I'm smarter than all of you" does not really win friends) and physically (see above), but when other people have such high expectations of you, that you are expected to change the world, you either "fake it 'til you make it" (as in Jeph's best Twitter frenemy) or, more likely you "fake it 'til you break it" (see above). It doesn't even have to be at any sort of illustrious level. I studied IT at TAFE (Australia's equivalent of "community college", I guess) nearly 20 years ago now. I was no wiz kid or prodigy, but I was good at it. But getting a job in that field was nigh impossible (as one teacher put it "they're looking for 18 year olds with 50 years experience"), so I ended up landing where I am now as a warehouse monkey. But any computer problem (whether at work or at home) that I can't fix in like 5 minutes, the same fucking line comes out: "but you're supposed to be a computer genius!" and it's like 20 years ago, maybe!
Sad gobbo :'(
I very much relate to Liz's predicament. After completing my (good but by no means groundbreaking) dissertation, I felt similarly at sea, when the unfinished projects were either done or fizzled out, and there was no one really pushing me (like my advisor used to). May be she needs a team around here? Sounds like she would be (or would have been) a fine post-doc somewhere. Anywhere but at a place, where she is isolated.
Gifted Kid Burnout is real
“Electroweak” was the name of my wildly unsuccessful metal band. Due to a math error, our mantra was “Turn it up to 0.11!”
“Publish or Perish” was the title of our first (and only) album; it was a quad-cd monstrosity that contained one song, split up into four parts: a cover version of John Cage’s 4’33”—which, due to another math error, we performed in four hours and thirty-three minutes.
Sounds like Marten just found Claire's first assistant.
This is why child prodigies shouldn't be a thing! So much pressure on a person when they should be, ya know, GROWING UP! Poor Liz!
Except they are a thing, and tying them to their age cohort can result in pressure from the opposite direction: peers who routinely bully them because they're *different*, along with resentment about being held back for the sake of people who don't like them much anyway. Everybody has to deal with this. It's just most people deal with it at a much younger age. The prodigy hits their first failure too late, and thus has to learn how to deal with it the hard way. Denying them opportunities to excel does not help with that.
It's so very Marten that he actually drank the coffee
He clearly needed it for that conversation xD
Left to her own devices, zero direction in instruction, of course she's doomed to fail. She has no clue what to be doing because they forgot to give her any actual task. Betting Claire finds whatever Moray forgot to tell her during orientation and gets this little goblin back to functional.
Forgot is the wrong way to put it. Not giving direction was Cubetown's original design. It doesn't work so well, and Cubetown is clearly demonstrating that.
Marten before: "Claire needs to run from here." Marten now: "But Cubetown needs her."
That's a ridiculously shallow and selfish reason not to want Claire to work there. Like damn, how much WORSE can this little goblin be? Claire could be a huge improvement for Cubetown and....her only thought is about her lack of progress could be noticed.
That's an odd way to spell "someone who has spent the last 2 years in a death spiral, who's gone from prodigy to feeling like her entire existence is a fraud, is so consumed by the fear that an entire town of brilliant scientists (and her family) will see her complete and utter failure, that she fails to see other perspectives", but you do you, Shawn.
But that sub-basement has a window looking out on the ocean.
It’s a super high-res photo frame.
She is something of a failure, but only in that she’s given up. Claire would see a goblin in need of direction and give her *ideas* that would absolutely get this kid back on track. I didn’t have anything like those expectations, but I was a “gifted” kid.
Rat-borne illnesses are no fun. Doesn't matter if the rat gives it to you, or you give it to the rat.
Your love life continues to be terrifying
Her terror is misplaced I think, but 'reasonable' from her limited experience of the world. But I think Claire would be more inclined to try and help her going forward than give her the boot, and Marten would know that. Would what's left of her ego be capable of taking help? Idunno, but that's a Dr. Appleboom problem. That said, her personality reminds me of a female version of Sheldon so much that I inherently want her to flame out and go anywhere else but continued pages of the comic.
"Elizabeth Appleboom, eaten by rats." Sounds like an Edward Gorey picture.
“Big Robo Dinosaur, died singing ‘Cats’.”
Would a walking Nobel prize generator win a nobel prize?
I would think a Nobel prize generator would be one who is so groundbreaking in their field that their work is awarded the first prize in a new category.
Time to summon Hanners, ender of messes.
And to get her the source of The (rat-bourne origin) Virus.
I sympathize so hard with her right now. Left to my own devices and without any guidance I'll default to doing whatever obviously needs doing, and while I'm generally good at it that's not what most employers expect and many don't appreciate it. My last 2 contracts were both for hospitals and both doing similar work. The first just gave vague 'Go do stuff' instructions and couldn't provide anything more specific even after repeated requests so I spent a year doing the best I could, completing several projects that seemed to be obviously needed but resulting in a physical and mental breakdown (I was the only one left from a team of 6, the others had been pulled to work other tasks and they never hired replacements), and then termination immediately after I returned from medical leave so they could blame the original project failure on me to the client. I had literally been told by my manager in that morning's meeting that my job was safe and I didn't need to worry, then got canned while I was on my lunch break. The most recent employer gave me very clear information and direction about what they wanted and let me do extra work as I had time and initiative, and I got even more done in half the time. I'd still be there if they hadn't been hit by unexpected cost cutting and they're hoping to bring me back once finances settle down, and I'll jump to do it.
I’m pretty sure SUSY models don’t work to explain CDM. But good whiteboard otherwise!
Perhaps in this universe?
I still say she should meet some of the rest of the QC cast. Hannelore's dad, in particular, is probably one of the few people she wouldn't try to snob. Raven could probably talk physics with her as an equal (and being Raven, would be immune to social discomfort).
I've been thinking about this for a bit. It seems like Moray is the closest thing to a boss Elizabeth has. And there's a definite pattern of Moray being more than a little haphazard about things. Given that the Morays are extensions of the director, is it possible that this particular Moray (Moray-21) is, in effect, "the administrator" for Cubetown? It was also established that Moray-21 has been operating independently for longer than most other Morays. So, I think where I'm going with this, is to wonder if perhaps Cubetown's state of "advanced higgley-piggely" is connected to Moray-21's eccentricity.
All the indications we have, including that whiteboard org chart, are that Moray-21 is the only person even *trying* to organize or stabilize anything in Cubetown. Come to think about it, this explains how that first phone call with Claire went, and why Moray was completely ecstatic about the prospect of hiring someone who knows what an IT department is and that they need one.
He should franchise Coffee of Doom onto the Island
There is a whole trend on Reddit guessing that this is what the story is setting up; move Coffee of Doom to Cubetown.
I have been relegated to a small dank room to do my work, during a dark phase in my career. It housed an air handler which was set to chill the room to 50° F (10° C). There was a sign warning not to adjust the temperature. The walls of the room wept rivulets of water.
😟
I expect she moved into the least accessible space she could find so people wouldn't knock on her door anymore.
Marten is definitely in now; he drank the Koo- er, the coffee.
I've been that person - huge things expected, being overwhelmed by the pressure of said expectations. Sympathies on sub-basement-gobling-researcher Liz
I sympathise with Sub-basement Goblin Scientist, I really do, but the whole point of Cubetown is that they have all these amazing geniuses futzing around and sometimes -- by chance or by the Director's intuition -- making fantastic discoveries. Point is, SHE'S NOT ALONE. Claire The Librarian could can half the researchers... or gently nudge them in the right direction, so they know they're being watched
I don't think the Director would be on board with canning people, unless it was part of a study to determine the full effects of canning people. Possibly not even then.
I wonder if Elizabeth is the only person there with that problem.
*raises hand politely* NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Awwww goblin. She’s at least self-aware. This is promising.
I genuinely feel bad for Goblin Scientist. But I also agree she needs structure and direction, and Claire is exactly the person to give it to her.
this has been a really good look so far at the problem with child prodigies, and how things often Don't Work Out for them. liz excelled at academic pursuits so quickly that she didn't develop the skills to work with others, a key aspect of proper scientific discovery. poor thing, claire giving some structure to the place could be the best thing for her, but she doesn't even realize it.
The thing is, Claire isn't going to cut people who are unproductive. She's going to storm into the Director's office and demand to know why these people have had inadequate mentoring and support.
Claire has inherited mom vibes!
What she doesn’t know yet is that Claire is incredibly compassionate, especially to the neurodivergent. Claire could be her biggest ally, and is more likely to chastise leadership than Liz.
Claire has inherited mom vibes!
Marten should probably walk away from this situation, but he's probably going to try to help, and I hope it works out.
Why she lives in the sub-basement theory: She pushed people away hard enough that no-one was able to move her when they built a new building on top of her current one.
My feeling is she’s Claire’s new hobby, and possibly Marten’s new job.
The real question is why does cube down actually have a sub-basement? I mean, it's a floating city!!
Maybe she inadvertently created her own pocket-dimension sub-basement and didn't even notice?
I feel for Liz so much now.
She’s never embraced the Gene Et attitude of “no one knows what I’m doing, everything will fine.” But that guy is inexplicably lucky…
That’s a great description of genetics!
Many thoughts on self-vs-group responsibility around all of this but mostly I'm confused that the people who hang out here haven't paired her off with anyone yet. Are we slipping...?
Definitely the security chief.
Liz, if this helps you get on track: I don't know what you want to do with dark matter, but discovering what it is would be a good first step.
Turn your detectors slightly to the left.
The pleasures and perils of flying under the radar.
I feel for Liz. Being successful only to do nothing (basically, the last three years for the world). However, a lot of her situation was her own doing. She could’ve accepted Moray’s help, actually bonded with the other people/AI on Cubetown, and figured out a productive job. She probably avoided rent payment.
Pretty much the sole redeeming point of this whole backstory of hers is that she ends by explicitly stating that she does know it's her fault.
oooooor Claire actually helps create enough order that a brilliant person gets some actual direction that leads to great things, rather than just letting them stew alone in a sub-basement with no plan.
Really though. There isn’t much I can’t do or figure out, and I’m praised for it often. But, given nothing to do, I usually resort to burning time on YouTube or something. I need a direction. Sometimes I need it from someone else.
So.. after all that, she just hopes that Claire turns down the job so she can avoid consequences, and at least stall long enough to die of rat born illness? I mean I knew she was terrible, but hell
She needs therapy, a friend, and a supervisor, in that order.
She needs a responsible adult. 🙃
I can't help but think she'd do well with structure.
And Marten could be a conduit for all this.
CDM is a “susy” apparently
It's a question, and the answer is NO.
Cosmo to the rescue!
Yikes, that's a moral dilemma, alright