I feel like a lot of these memes come from folks in STEM. Always talking about 'labs'. A lot of liberal arts are essentially solo unless they actively choose to pursue collaborative work. And there's no pressure to publish in many places because a new monograph on veganism in the 16th century doesn't bring in any money anyway. And that's great. They're more focused on teaching and its kinda exciting to get paid to talk about and research your special interest all day. As long as future PhDs don't go in without a backup plan since there ain't enough faculty positions for everyone. Ofc, I know someone who finished one in literature and pretty much hates books now. Always two sides to the coin.

whats a PI?

academia has been poisoned by MBAs so much that you only teach 10% of the time and the other 90% is doing pointless admin. it's almost exactly like a customer service job, at least for adjuncts/entry-level lecturers

The duality of humanity right here. I hated academics and I'm way happier facing clients. Because even if they're being unreasonable, they're still paying me more than a living wage which is more than I could say about my advisor