Not Steve, but when it comes to Quantum Physics the relationship is "Shut up and calculate."
davew On Wed, Apr 15, 2020, at 12:38 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Soooo, Steve. What IS the role of philosophy in physics? > > N > > Nicholas Thompson > Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology > Clark University > [email protected] > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Friam <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Steven A Smith > Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 9:10 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] anthropological observations > > > Frank - > > I may have mentioned this before but physicists, chemists, engineers > > etc. rarely talk about philosophy of science. Social scientists, > > particularly.psychologists, do much more. Some mathematicians do > > because they believe they are dealing with God. > > My undergrad career in Physics turned a corner when I took an > opportunity in an upper division class to write an essay on the "role > of Philosophy in Physics". The professor had asked for an essay on > "the topic of your choice" because he said that it was important for > hard scientists to be able to ask critical questions about the topics > they were studying and to communicate them clearly, not just derive and > solve equations. > > We were a small cadre of upper-class physics majors and a few grad > students from other disciplines... perhaps a dozen or less? There was > no graduate program in Physics at my university (though there was in > Chemistry, Biology, Geology...) and I think the core professors were > frustrated or hungry for more stimulating experiences with students > than the usual undergrad context offered. > > I was mildly worried that my subject was going to be dismissed as > off-topic, as the other students unrolled their deepish-dives into > specific questions in Physics. My classmates did "roll their eyes" a > little when I announced my topic and started in. The professor, > however, who had been rather critical of/hard on me up to that point in > this and other classes, interrupted me to ask penetrating questions, > and soon the rest of the class was nodding their heads in appreciation > or at least understanding. I can't remember the full arc of my essay > but I remember in particular presenting things like Zeno's paradox to > discuss ideas such as atomicity and the different interpretations of > quantum theory and the larger implications of relativity. > > This experience melted the ice with that professor who had been > critical of my work-style for many semesters. I rarely wrote down > *every* step in my derivations (meaning I would balance more than one > element of an equation in a single step) and I rarely did *all* the > assigned homework problems (Once I felt I understood a concept, I would > skip the remaining problems and go to the next conceptually different > problem... and I was running my own business and had a young child by > then and had no patience for what felt like "make-work"). My weak > "performance" in the mundane tasks of homework balanced against my > above-average performance on tests (where I forced myself to write down > every step and do every > problem) made me a pretty solid B student while most of the others in > my cohort were over-achievers trying to nail a 4.0 grade average. > > At the end of that class, the professor (notoriously hard-nosed) > offered me an independent study class the next semester which allowed > me to rush through a medley of advanced topics that were not offered as > formal classes. I dearly enjoyed his reading assignments and the two > hours of discussion each week, we covered a LOT of ground that last > semester. It wasn't my first A in a Physics class but it WAS my first > in one of HIS classes! It was also a great preparation for working at > LANL where I encountered esoteric topics on a very regular basis. > > It might be noted that my second-most favorite course of study and > other favorite professor was in Philosophy... a professor and domain > of study that taught me how to think about ideas, not just about > "things" which seemed to be what *all* of the engineering classes I > took and *most* of the science classes I took were about. This is > where I was first made aware that a grand unified theory of everything > was an oxymoron, why some physical phenomena could *appear* to move > faster than light-speed (e.g. two quasar-beams crossing in > intergalactic space), and an intuitive framing of Godel's work in > incompleteness, etc before I encountered it in CS. > > - Steve > > > > .-. .- -. -.. --- -- -..-. -.. --- - ... -..-. .- -. -.. -..-. -.. .- > ... .... . ... > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam unsubscribe > http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > > .-. .- -. -.. --- -- -..-. -.. --- - ... -..-. .- -. -.. -..-. -.. .- > ... .... . ... > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > .-. .- -. -.. --- -- -..-. -.. --- - ... -..-. .- -. -.. -..-. -.. .- ... .... . ... FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
