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Here's another idea I have no evidence for. Maybe it is a compounding problem, maybe it is the problem, maybe it's total nonsense. Perhaps we are seeing the af
by kjjw 12y ago
Here's another idea I have no evidence for. Maybe it is a compounding problem, maybe it is the problem, maybe it's total nonsense.
Perhaps we are seeing the affect of an increase in difficulty of pushing the boundaries of basic science, and the difficulties of interpreting that new basic science, and thus of applying it to anything that will enhance our lives, our economies, so on.
How many people could really get to grips with Newtonian physics? I'd hazard a guess that a reasonable percentage of the world's population, given boundless resources for education, lots of time, etc, would be able to get their heads around it.
Now, how many people in the world, under the same circumstances, are capable of understanding QFT, to the point of doing something with it in the applied space? I think the percentage just dropped drastically.
- eli_gottlieb 12y ago>How many people could really get to grips with Newtonian physics? I'd hazard a guess that a reasonable percentage of the world's population, given boundless resources for education, lots of time, etc, would be able to get their heads around it. > >Now, how many people in the world, under the same circumstances, are capable of understanding QFT, to the point of doing something with it in the applied space? I think the percentage just dropped drastically. You know what? I don't think so. I think that the borderline for raw intelligence necessary to understand modern physics and mathematics hasn't actually gotten much higher, but we academics like maintaining our sense of belonging to an intellectual elite so strongly that we've simply neglected to work on improving how we teach the deeper material. After all, if a student fails to understand, it's because he's stupid, inferior, and destined to change majors into Journalism, so we don't have to try.