Comment Re:The problem in the US... (Score 1) 298
The top 1% of professors are the likes of Terrence Tao (mostly the entire population of the math departments of the world's universities). The remaining 99% of assistant/associate/full professors fight with the usual dirty tricks:
- knowing people in high places or being supervised by one (the benefits are immense: you can publish in better venues, and get better job offers),
- publishing uncountably many junk articles to boost up impact factor (for either self or for colleagues in the same clique),
- securing grants with buzzword-laden proposals.
Of course, your personal experiences may vary.
Now about that IQ thing and how much it matters. My theory is: "Once you understand higher maths, you're halfway to anywhere" (with apologies to Heinlein).