3 ms·

I think physicists are "careful enough" with their communications to the general public and amongst themselves. At the end of the day, they got work to do after

I think physicists are "careful enough" with their communications to the general public and amongst themselves. At the end of the day, they got work to do after all. The weird thing about physics is that it attracts a lot of strange fellows that want to grapple with these ideas much like the OP is working with. As far as I know, no other field attracts such folks, and no, people who cargo-cult Kubernetes into their small company workflow for resume bullet-points are NOT the same kind of person as someone who would waltz into a general relativity colloquium, from the street, sporting no degree whatsoever (it happens). There's whole categories of outsiders, some call them cranks, who get involved with physics. John Baez even has a purity test of sorts for this (the crackpot index): https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html

whimsicalism 5y ago
I agree, it is oddly unique to physics.
wolverine876 5y ago
> I think physicists are "careful enough" By what standard? The general public doesn't understand physics and makes little use of it. > The weird thing about physics is that it attracts a lot of strange fellows that want to grapple with these ideas much like the OP is working with. Isn't that what attracts all physicists, and humanity in its quest to understand its world?
- crispyambulance 5y ago
  > ...general public doesn't understand physics and makes little use of it. There's plenty of general science interest in the public and a significant fraction is focused on physics. It doesn't matter if folks don't "make use of it" aside from a bit of enlightenment and wonder. Some physicists have developed quite a public persona and have used that to reach out to the public. Others stay focused on communications within their own community-- both are fine. The particular kind of autodidactic "cranks" Sabine Hossenfelder (too) generously wrote about are, in my opinion, a very different kind of beast than merely curious folks who want to learn stuff.
  - wolverine876 5y ago
    Hmmm ... all I see is repetition of the claim, 'it doesn't matter'. That's quite an assertion in a place like HN, and in a world where public education is considered important.
    - crispyambulance 5y ago
      Well, not everyone has to be a physicist. It's part of a well-rounded education to learn some basics, of course, to understand the scientific method, and the conservation laws. Some will go farther than that if they're going into STEM, or into physics itself. Outside of that it's a matter of curiosity and public outreach from physicists... and I guess a small number of cranks.
      - wolverine876 5y ago
        I'm not sure what the basis is for those standards, but even accepting them, > It's part of a well-rounded education to learn some basics, of course, to understand the scientific method, and the conservation laws. Very few people know those things.

whimsicalism 5y ago

I agree, it is oddly unique to physics.

wolverine876 5y ago

> I think physicists are "careful enough" By what standard? The general public doesn't understand physics and makes little use of it. > The weird thing about physics is that it attracts a lot of strange fellows that want to grapple with these ideas much like the OP is working with. Isn't that what attracts all physicists, and humanity in its quest to understand its world?

crispyambulance 5y ago
> ...general public doesn't understand physics and makes little use of it. There's plenty of general science interest in the public and a significant fraction is focused on physics. It doesn't matter if folks don't "make use of it" aside from a bit of enlightenment and wonder. Some physicists have developed quite a public persona and have used that to reach out to the public. Others stay focused on communications within their own community-- both are fine. The particular kind of autodidactic "cranks" Sabine Hossenfelder (too) generously wrote about are, in my opinion, a very different kind of beast than merely curious folks who want to learn stuff.
- wolverine876 5y ago
  Hmmm ... all I see is repetition of the claim, 'it doesn't matter'. That's quite an assertion in a place like HN, and in a world where public education is considered important.
  - crispyambulance 5y ago
    Well, not everyone has to be a physicist. It's part of a well-rounded education to learn some basics, of course, to understand the scientific method, and the conservation laws. Some will go farther than that if they're going into STEM, or into physics itself. Outside of that it's a matter of curiosity and public outreach from physicists... and I guess a small number of cranks.
    - wolverine876 5y ago
      I'm not sure what the basis is for those standards, but even accepting them, > It's part of a well-rounded education to learn some basics, of course, to understand the scientific method, and the conservation laws. Very few people know those things.