4 ms·

I would argue that one of the reasons why physics news has been quiet is because the state of the field has moved beyond a lay person's understanding at more th

I would argue that one of the reasons why physics news has been quiet is because the state of the field has moved beyond a lay person's understanding at more than a high level.

doombolt 8y ago
If you can't explain your idead to your janitor, you don't really grasp them yourself.
- HalcyonicStorm 8y ago
  I agree with your statement, but we're discussing physics reporting in the news. They are aiming for eyeballs and ad clicks, not for emanating understanding of the topic.
  - doombolt 8y ago
    One can read Wikipedia as well
- JackFr 8y ago
  OTOH... "Hell, if I could explain it to the average person, it wouldn't have been worth the Nobel prize." -- Richard Feynman
- admax88q 8y ago
  The thing I hate about this statement is it gives people an excuse to ignore things they don't understand at first glace by claiming the presenter doesn't fully understand it so it's probably not true. Its a good standard to hold yourself to when explaining things to others. But not one to hold others to when explaining to you.
  - whatshisface 8y ago
    "Be liberal in what you accept but conservative in what you generate."
    - diegoperini 8y ago
      Even that is up to debate. https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/8/114933-the-robustness-principle-reconsidered/fulltext https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/8/114933-the-robustness-...
- vnorilo 8y ago
  If you can successfully eli5, that indicates thorough mastery of a subject. Stuff on the bleeding edge of physics can be grasped by a limited group of experts, but nobody might have developed the 10th dan sensei level understanding yet. Maybe in 50 years we'll have great explanations of black holes and quantum mech that laypeople can grok.
danarmak 8y ago
Few non-physicists understand quantum mechanics even at a high level, but that certainly hasn't stopped journalists over the last hundred years. Whatever the new frontier is, I'm sure the popular media could cover it in technobabble just fine if they wanted to.

I would argue that one of the reasons why physics news has been quiet is because the state of the field has moved beyond a lay person's understanding at more than a high level.

doombolt 8y ago

If you can't explain your idead to your janitor, you don't really grasp them yourself.

HalcyonicStorm 8y ago
I agree with your statement, but we're discussing physics reporting in the news. They are aiming for eyeballs and ad clicks, not for emanating understanding of the topic.
- doombolt 8y ago
  One can read Wikipedia as well
JackFr 8y ago
OTOH... "Hell, if I could explain it to the average person, it wouldn't have been worth the Nobel prize." -- Richard Feynman
admax88q 8y ago
The thing I hate about this statement is it gives people an excuse to ignore things they don't understand at first glace by claiming the presenter doesn't fully understand it so it's probably not true. Its a good standard to hold yourself to when explaining things to others. But not one to hold others to when explaining to you.
- whatshisface 8y ago
  "Be liberal in what you accept but conservative in what you generate."
  - diegoperini 8y ago
    Even that is up to debate. https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/8/114933-the-robustness-principle-reconsidered/fulltext https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/8/114933-the-robustness-...
vnorilo 8y ago
If you can successfully eli5, that indicates thorough mastery of a subject. Stuff on the bleeding edge of physics can be grasped by a limited group of experts, but nobody might have developed the 10th dan sensei level understanding yet. Maybe in 50 years we'll have great explanations of black holes and quantum mech that laypeople can grok.

danarmak 8y ago

Few non-physicists understand quantum mechanics even at a high level, but that certainly hasn't stopped journalists over the last hundred years. Whatever the new frontier is, I'm sure the popular media could cover it in technobabble just fine if they wanted to.