Somewhere a tree dies in a forest when a talented and trained mathematician decides to quit academia.

Academics and academia are themselves responsible for a lot of issues.

1. General whining: Academics tend to whine a lot. This does not (necessarily) mean that they are unhappy. A good part of academic training is learning how to spot mistakes. Thus an academic tends to find flaws all around her/him.

2. Teaching/learning: Research is not something you can teach in a classroom. It has to be done. As a result, research students are increasingly annoyed at their "teacher"'s inability to teach. Most students never make the transition to "learning" rather than "being taught".

3. Excluded Middle: While it is still true that the "genius!"-types continue to be found in academia, the middle tier of bright people are increasingly going elsewhere. This is not sustainable in the long run. There must be a "We are the 99%" movement for people to take control of their science/knowledge --- but who will lead it?!

4. Exponential growth: Research requires sustained mental growth. This is a steep curve and many feel like stepping off. There are careers where one can solve problems from day to day or week to week without worrying about becoming obsolete. Academia is not one of them.

5. Specialisation: Getting a PhD can be described as "becoming the worlds foremost expert on almost nothing". This can also be described as digging a very deep well which is only wide enough for one person (read under-nourished graduate student).

As a result of one or more of these, someone who completes a PhD thesis often feels disheartened. However, here are some things to look forward to:

1. General whining: People in academia remember (and embellish) their stories as a way of substantiating their whining. Many of these stories are entertaining and almost all are educational. This form of anecdotal learning about one's workplace has no parallels in the startup culture of today. Perhaps working for some of the dinosaurs like IBM, AT&T will be similar --- even those can't compare with 400 year-old oral histories.

2. Teaching/learning: There is no better place to learn a subject than in a classroom --- as a teacher. More seriously, preparing to teach a class or preparing exercises is one of the ways to learn something really well. As someone once said, you have not learned something properly until you have taught it.

3. Excluded Middle: "A cat may look at a king." Being in academics allows one to challenge and bring the lofty to earth. A "genius" may (and often does) ignore those who are not academics when they pose uncomfortable questions. A middle-level academic is not so easy to dismiss.

4. Exponential Growth: There is tremendous opportunity for doing "new stuff" in academia. As compared with any other career, it is easiest to justify spending time on "non-core" material in academics---like Alice, we have "to run very fast to stay in the same place".

5. Specialisation: If training for a PhD can be seen as training oneself to become a specialist, then there is no reason one cannot iterate this and become a specialist in many things. On the other hand, some others choose to "widen the well and let other people in"!

There is no doubt that academia needs to break out of its slumber, but who better than young, disgruntled PhD students to do so?!