23 ms·

I wholeheartedly agree. Intelligence can only be rapidly converted into superficial knowledge. I've never heard of anyone who became an expert in Quantum Field

by Rod 17y ago

I wholeheartedly agree. Intelligence can only be rapidly converted into superficial knowledge. I've never heard of anyone who became an expert in Quantum Field Theory in a couple of years without having a background in Physics, that is for sure. I know people who became reasonably good programmers in a couple of years, though... but programming is more of a skill than true knowledge. Hackers should focus on hacking and be more humble when treading on unknown territory, imho.

kurtosis 17y ago
To get an idea of the amount of work required to gain "depth" consider these famous lists: HOW to BECOME a GOOD THEORETICAL PHYSICIST by Gerard 't Hooft This is a web site (still under construction) for young students - and anyone else - who are (like me) thrilled by the challenges posed by real science, and who are - like me - determined to use their brains to discover new things about the physical world that we are living in. In short, it is for all those who decided to study theoretical physics, in their own time. http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theorist.html http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theorist.html See also: Herring Brain Box http://large.stanford.edu/herring/brain/ http://large.stanford.edu/herring/brain/
- Rod 17y ago
  I knew Hooft's page already. Thanks for the other URL. I did some work on Experimental Physics years ago, then discovered that I was more into Applied Math. No plans to become a theoretical physicist, but I still read some stuff on it once in a while, just for kicks...
  - kurtosis 17y ago
    I'm not sure if the t'Hooft page is a joke or not. Looking over the Herring Box is a humbling experience. A common hope that a lot of children have is that even though there was no way that anyone could read every book in the library it might still be possible learn everything by choosing only the good books. The herring box makes me feel like even this goal is impossible. People really are discovering valuable knowledge at a faster rate than any one individual could learn and comprehend it all.
    - tokenadult 17y ago
      I'm not sure if the t'Hooft page is a joke or not. It is no joke. Nobel laureate in physics t'Hooft wrote the page to give serious advice to people who aspire to understand theoretical physics.
bbgm 17y ago
And it goes beyond intelligence. You can become passable at something fairly quickly, even competent. However becoming really proficient at most things takes years of work and effort.
slackenerny 17y ago
I've never heard of anyone who became an expert in Quantum Field Theory in a couple of years without having a background in Physics An anecdote, FWIW ;) Once Pierre Deligne, and few fellow mathematicians, annoyed at their utter lack of understanding of QFT and involved physics, decided to sit down for a year and learn some. Notes they've took during that year of effort are now a standard reference (http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Fields-Strings-Course-Mathematicians/dp/0821820125 http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Fields-Strings-Course-Mathemat...)

by Rod 17y ago

kurtosis 17y ago

To get an idea of the amount of work required to gain "depth" consider these famous lists: HOW to BECOME a GOOD THEORETICAL PHYSICIST by Gerard 't Hooft This is a web site (still under construction) for young students - and anyone else - who are (like me) thrilled by the challenges posed by real science, and who are - like me - determined to use their brains to discover new things about the physical world that we are living in. In short, it is for all those who decided to study theoretical physics, in their own time. http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theorist.html http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theorist.html See also: Herring Brain Box http://large.stanford.edu/herring/brain/ http://large.stanford.edu/herring/brain/

Rod 17y ago
I knew Hooft's page already. Thanks for the other URL. I did some work on Experimental Physics years ago, then discovered that I was more into Applied Math. No plans to become a theoretical physicist, but I still read some stuff on it once in a while, just for kicks...
- kurtosis 17y ago
  I'm not sure if the t'Hooft page is a joke or not. Looking over the Herring Box is a humbling experience. A common hope that a lot of children have is that even though there was no way that anyone could read every book in the library it might still be possible learn everything by choosing only the good books. The herring box makes me feel like even this goal is impossible. People really are discovering valuable knowledge at a faster rate than any one individual could learn and comprehend it all.
  - tokenadult 17y ago
    I'm not sure if the t'Hooft page is a joke or not. It is no joke. Nobel laureate in physics t'Hooft wrote the page to give serious advice to people who aspire to understand theoretical physics.

bbgm 17y ago

And it goes beyond intelligence. You can become passable at something fairly quickly, even competent. However becoming really proficient at most things takes years of work and effort.

slackenerny 17y ago

I've never heard of anyone who became an expert in Quantum Field Theory in a couple of years without having a background in Physics An anecdote, FWIW ;) Once Pierre Deligne, and few fellow mathematicians, annoyed at their utter lack of understanding of QFT and involved physics, decided to sit down for a year and learn some. Notes they've took during that year of effort are now a standard reference (http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Fields-Strings-Course-Mathematicians/dp/0821820125 http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Fields-Strings-Course-Mathemat...)