Self non-publishing

Remember that guy who put his self-published novel on the shelves in Waterstones thus bypassing the troublesome publishing industry? Now I hear about someone who is doing a PhD on TS Eliot, Auden and her own unpublished poetry thus bypassing the troublesome publishing and criticing industry. In fact, in the true spirit of "self-publishing", you could just bypass the whole troublesome "people outside your own mind" industry and just keep your thoughts to yourself and then judge them and award the best ones a prize.