Sure, it can help. You'll advance in a lot of careers if you work more than 100% more hours than your peers. And if you are aiming for a good faculty position then a massive volume of papers is indeed expected nowadays. You might even perform more good science than your peers.
But that doesn't mean that your lab mate who is working sane hours isn't producing useful research that contributes to the community. Telling people that they simply don't have the personality to do science if they aren't allowing themselves to be abused is unhealthy.
> Telling people that they simply don't have the personality to do science if they aren't allowing themselves to be abused is unhealthy.
The purpose of a PhD/doctoral degree is to boostrap a career in science. The positions there are highly competitive (not to mention that few tenure track and tenure positions that are available). If you don't work insanely hard, you are out.
Better tell people the harsh truth upfront instead of this insane feel-good and you-can-do-it nonsense, which often sooner than later leads to the problem that students are not prepared for the hard reality that they will get to see.
> The purpose of a PhD/doctoral degree is to boostrap a career in science.
It can be. I like to think that the doing science part is also valuable and that people can still contribute meaningfully to the world even if they come out the other side without a R1 faculty position. I like to think that my research ended up that way.
> If you don't work insanely hard, you are out.
I'm very good friends with a CS professor at MIT who didn't work unreasonable hours in grad school. Working incredibly long hours probably increases the chances of this sort of outcome and you are indeed competing with a lot of people for very few jobs.
People should be aware of the low success rate in the PhD -> R1 TT faculty pipeline. People should make informed decisions when attending a PhD program. But it is absolutely not the case that people are simply unable to produce good science if they aren't willing to spend their entire lives in the lab.
But that doesn't mean that your lab mate who is working sane hours isn't producing useful research that contributes to the community. Telling people that they simply don't have the personality to do science if they aren't allowing themselves to be abused is unhealthy.