4 ms·

This a good resource with lots of nice links but while I can see something like a syllabus helping beginners see an overall direction, I don't think this site e

by JBits 4y ago

This a good resource with lots of nice links but while I can see something like a syllabus helping beginners see an overall direction, I don't think this site encourages the right approach to learning physics. I not keen on telling everyone to learn every topic presented or else they 'fail'. He's telling people they have to reproduce his entire physics education exactly as he did which I don't think is suitable for people learning on their own. If you're a self taught programmer you probably didn't learn by finding a university's syllabus and trying to replicate it. Trying to reproduce a university's syllabus seems to me an unreasonable goal and I worry that Hooft's list encourages people to gain a shallow understanding with little understanding. My main take aways from my university education was that most modules truly wished to teach a new way of seeing things or teach skills in manipulating new objects. Analysis is a good example: simply going through theorems and proofs isn't the goal, it's to learn the skills needed to write them, understand the mathematical logic and gain intuition. Another important thing is that science is both broad and deep, despite having common topics, and this list simply doesn't convey this. A learner is much better off using what they find interesting and needed as a guide. It's fine if you don't learn one particular topic or approach something in one particular way because all studying will teach transferable skills. I'd expect someone who's said taught to have more limited time compared to an undergraduate, so I think focusing is fine and potentially necessary.

tayo42 4y ago
> If you're a self taught programmer you probably didn't learn by finding a university's syllabus and trying to replicate it. I actually did this. A cs degree has like 6 or 8 dedicated computer classes when you break it down. Everything else is like Gen eds and math. It's pretty much algorithms and ds, maybe assembly and operating systems. Then some elective classes.
raydiatian 4y ago
I get where you’re coming from, but the website intro quite literally clarified its audience as being the group of people that want to replicate his education. This website isn’t about Jesus teaching a man to fish, it’s Captain Ahab advertising for Ishmael-types mental enough to join his crew for Moby Dick’s skull.
- JBits 4y ago
  Still, an important thing for a physics undergrad student to realise is that they can't learn everything. Properly learning what Hooft listed would be the equivalent of a good education but I don't like the combination of being biased towards his interests while also demanding that this is the only correct way. My science background didn't follow the exact same route and, after comparing notes with a friend at a different university and looking at modules of other universities, while they both follow the same general pattern, the order is different and the module selection available expresses different focuses of the department. Personally, I think his list doesn't contain enough core mathematics and is too broad. Major areas that professional theoretical physicists specialise in are not mentioned at all (atomic physics, quantum information, condensed matter physics, density functional theory, mathematical physics, fluid dynamics). I guess my complaint is that the list fails to highlight the core topics and fundamentals as well as failing to demonstrate how one can specialise. A vital skill needed to be a good theoretical physicist is the ability to think for yourself and learn without a syllabus.
  - raydiatian 4y ago
    From the website: > Note that this site NOT meant to be very pedagogical. I avoid texts with lots of colorful but distracting pictures from authors who try hard to be funny. Also, the subjects included are somewhat focused towards my own interests. LIST OF SUBJECTS, IN LOGICAL ORDER ARE ON THE SIDE. (Not everything has to be done in this order, but this approximately indicates the logical coherence of the various subjects. Some notes are at a higher level than others). > Still, an important thing for a physics undergrad student to realise is that they can't learn everything. I mean I “get” what you’re saying, but it’s such a vague notion in this context. You can learn precisely as much as you are willing to. I’m not even a physics major (CprE undergrad, SE by trade), yet I have a working understanding of Schrödinger equation mathematics. This was not born out of elective or required study, I taught myself QM post-graduation with a textbook & MIT-OCW. I worked through the textbook up to TISE. I went back and relearned Frobenius method to understand how the 3D hydrogen atom results in these wild ass wave equations. My point is I’m in an adjacent field (that I’m already continually extending my knowledge in) and I can still find time to climb the modern phys ladder if/when I feel like it. And then on top of that, like I said this website is a shopping list for “would-be crewmen”, so I think it’s reasonable to assume the man is listing everything he has studied, so you can “study everything”. Now maybe what you mean to say is you can’t go deep in everything. But you can become conversationally proficient across subjects, so that you can be able to ask the right questions. In general, “you can’t study everything” seems vague or off-topic.
annyeonghada 4y ago
>If you're a self taught programmer you probably didn't learn by finding a university's syllabus and trying to replicate it. Exactly what I'm doing. I dislike being dumb because I missed something.

by JBits 4y ago

tayo42 4y ago

> If you're a self taught programmer you probably didn't learn by finding a university's syllabus and trying to replicate it. I actually did this. A cs degree has like 6 or 8 dedicated computer classes when you break it down. Everything else is like Gen eds and math. It's pretty much algorithms and ds, maybe assembly and operating systems. Then some elective classes.

raydiatian 4y ago

I get where you’re coming from, but the website intro quite literally clarified its audience as being the group of people that want to replicate his education. This website isn’t about Jesus teaching a man to fish, it’s Captain Ahab advertising for Ishmael-types mental enough to join his crew for Moby Dick’s skull.

JBits 4y ago
Still, an important thing for a physics undergrad student to realise is that they can't learn everything. Properly learning what Hooft listed would be the equivalent of a good education but I don't like the combination of being biased towards his interests while also demanding that this is the only correct way. My science background didn't follow the exact same route and, after comparing notes with a friend at a different university and looking at modules of other universities, while they both follow the same general pattern, the order is different and the module selection available expresses different focuses of the department. Personally, I think his list doesn't contain enough core mathematics and is too broad. Major areas that professional theoretical physicists specialise in are not mentioned at all (atomic physics, quantum information, condensed matter physics, density functional theory, mathematical physics, fluid dynamics). I guess my complaint is that the list fails to highlight the core topics and fundamentals as well as failing to demonstrate how one can specialise. A vital skill needed to be a good theoretical physicist is the ability to think for yourself and learn without a syllabus.
- raydiatian 4y ago
  From the website: > Note that this site NOT meant to be very pedagogical. I avoid texts with lots of colorful but distracting pictures from authors who try hard to be funny. Also, the subjects included are somewhat focused towards my own interests. LIST OF SUBJECTS, IN LOGICAL ORDER ARE ON THE SIDE. (Not everything has to be done in this order, but this approximately indicates the logical coherence of the various subjects. Some notes are at a higher level than others). > Still, an important thing for a physics undergrad student to realise is that they can't learn everything. I mean I “get” what you’re saying, but it’s such a vague notion in this context. You can learn precisely as much as you are willing to. I’m not even a physics major (CprE undergrad, SE by trade), yet I have a working understanding of Schrödinger equation mathematics. This was not born out of elective or required study, I taught myself QM post-graduation with a textbook & MIT-OCW. I worked through the textbook up to TISE. I went back and relearned Frobenius method to understand how the 3D hydrogen atom results in these wild ass wave equations. My point is I’m in an adjacent field (that I’m already continually extending my knowledge in) and I can still find time to climb the modern phys ladder if/when I feel like it. And then on top of that, like I said this website is a shopping list for “would-be crewmen”, so I think it’s reasonable to assume the man is listing everything he has studied, so you can “study everything”. Now maybe what you mean to say is you can’t go deep in everything. But you can become conversationally proficient across subjects, so that you can be able to ask the right questions. In general, “you can’t study everything” seems vague or off-topic.

annyeonghada 4y ago

>If you're a self taught programmer you probably didn't learn by finding a university's syllabus and trying to replicate it. Exactly what I'm doing. I dislike being dumb because I missed something.