> And the citations don't actually reflect the true dependencies, but some political/social graph instead. Too bad.
I think this gets to the major concern with Academia today, as it becomes somewhat of a self-reinforcing feedback loop. Curry citations with political savvy, get awarded grants due to citations and political savvy, show that you are productive due to citations, grants, and political savvy - earning yet more political capital.
This will probably become my go to explanation for why Academic CS research has largely become decoupled from industrial application and industrial research. While political savvy is important in a large corporation, eventually you need to produce results.
I think this gets to the major concern with Academia today, as it becomes somewhat of a self-reinforcing feedback loop. Curry citations with political savvy, get awarded grants due to citations and political savvy, show that you are productive due to citations, grants, and political savvy - earning yet more political capital.
This will probably become my go to explanation for why Academic CS research has largely become decoupled from industrial application and industrial research. While political savvy is important in a large corporation, eventually you need to produce results.