As scientists, we are building our careers on being the best (and often: the only, whether true or just stated) person who can do X.

That's what our endless applications - for grants, for jobs, for time on big machines and high performance computers - are about: give me the money, the job, the time to do X. X is of immense importance and I'm the best person to do it. We believe in it ourselves. 

No wonder that what comes out is a culture of overwork. 1/2

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