Just the opening alone, doesn’t know what to do with his life, but mentions ‘NPC coworkers’ (that is also so fucking weird, I don’t think I have worked with much people who gave off an NPC vibe off at all, like people always seemed like people with lives and hobbies, social lives, families interests, stuff they cared about, etc.
It started to dawn on me that what I actually wanted was to look like Elon, and that is incredibly cringe. It hurts to even type this out.
My reactions to this ‘ow come on, you call others NPCs?!’ and ‘at least he knows it is cringe’
When I got back home and regaled my friends with my mountain stories, one of my friends joked that I should work for Elon and Vivek at DOGE and help America get off its current crash to defaulting on its own debt. So I reached out to some people and got in.
I love that video because until I watched it, I didn’t realise how much of a thing it was. Physics seems to be a magnet for the “iamverysmart” types; I feel sorry for actual physicists
Remember that actual physicists can fall into the same trap, and believe themselves to be very smart too. Plenty suffer an irresistible urge to fix every other field that’s doing it wrong.
As an alternative to the various xkcds on the subject, have an smbc instead.
Yes, quite. As a scientist (biochemistry), I sometimes have to catch myself on this too.
A tension that I see within the sciences and beyond is not sufficiently factoring in how good communication is essential to good research. Some of my peers disagree with me vehemently here, arguing that good research is good research regardless of one’s ability (or willingness) to dress up said research with pretty words, but I argue that the whole point of publishing papers or going to conferences is because science relies on communicating our research. I see a weird amount of hostility directed towards scientists who branch out into science communication. I speculate that an analogue of the “physicist instinct” is at the core of this — a disregard of the skill involved in interdisciplinary research, and an unwillingness to recognise how situated one’s own knowledge is.
It is a field that attracts a lot of cranks (who are pretty recognizable as being cranks via various patterns). Being a well known physicist must be hell.
Back when I was an undergrad I saw a letter addressed to the department from a German gentleman who claimed to have invented a perpetual motion machine (this was the department of mechanics). I remember the letter being quite typographically florid and especially the author’s likeness in silhouette.
My advisor had fun finding the flaw in the proposal. Took a few minutes.
I often wondered if demolishing a PM suggestion would be a good extra credit question on an exam.
Funnily enough, Angela Collier also made some pretty good videos for “actually” studying physics. Spoiler: no need to go to Hawaii, or anywhere further than your own couch/desk!
Just the opening alone, doesn’t know what to do with his life, but mentions ‘NPC coworkers’ (that is also so fucking weird, I don’t think I have worked with much people who gave off an NPC vibe off at all, like people always seemed like people with lives and hobbies, social lives, families interests, stuff they cared about, etc.
My reactions to this ‘ow come on, you call others NPCs?!’ and ‘at least he knows it is cringe’
This has got to be a parody.
Ha, I recently watched, this video billionaires want you to know they could have done physics by actual Theoretical Physicist, Angela Collier. I’m quite sure he will not be getting an actual degree in physics.
I don’t have the energy to read the orange site comments.
I love that video because until I watched it, I didn’t realise how much of a thing it was. Physics seems to be a magnet for the “iamverysmart” types; I feel sorry for actual physicists
Remember that actual physicists can fall into the same trap, and believe themselves to be very smart too. Plenty suffer an irresistible urge to fix every other field that’s doing it wrong.
As an alternative to the various xkcds on the subject, have an smbc instead.
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-03-21
Yes, quite. As a scientist (biochemistry), I sometimes have to catch myself on this too.
A tension that I see within the sciences and beyond is not sufficiently factoring in how good communication is essential to good research. Some of my peers disagree with me vehemently here, arguing that good research is good research regardless of one’s ability (or willingness) to dress up said research with pretty words, but I argue that the whole point of publishing papers or going to conferences is because science relies on communicating our research. I see a weird amount of hostility directed towards scientists who branch out into science communication. I speculate that an analogue of the “physicist instinct” is at the core of this — a disregard of the skill involved in interdisciplinary research, and an unwillingness to recognise how situated one’s own knowledge is.
It is a field that attracts a lot of cranks (who are pretty recognizable as being cranks via various patterns). Being a well known physicist must be hell.
Back when I was an undergrad I saw a letter addressed to the department from a German gentleman who claimed to have invented a perpetual motion machine (this was the department of mechanics). I remember the letter being quite typographically florid and especially the author’s likeness in silhouette.
My advisor had fun finding the flaw in the proposal. Took a few minutes.
I often wondered if demolishing a PM suggestion would be a good extra credit question on an exam.
You don’t even have to be well-known to get crank attention. Post anything with “quantum” in the title on the arXiv and they’ll find your e-mail.
Source: this is one of the few times when I can say “trust me, bro” and be entirely sincere about it
Funnily enough, Angela Collier also made some pretty good videos for “actually” studying physics. Spoiler: no need to go to Hawaii, or anywhere further than your own couch/desk!
how to teach yourself physics
how to solve a physics problem