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That's actually true of computer science in general. Ever turned up to a web conference? Or an OO conference? or a Java conference? I guarantee you that I f

by gdp 17y ago

That's actually true of computer science in general. Ever turned up to a web conference? Or an OO conference? or a Java conference? I guarantee you that I feel as out of place and excluded in any of those forums as I'm sure you do in a theory conference. The thing about any "community" that is well-defined enough to justify having its own conferences is that it has its own set of foundational assumptions and jargon, and conventions. If you don't know these things, you're going to have trouble participating at a high level. I don't think it's so much that people will not "pay attention" to you - it's probably just that what you are saying isn't very interesting. The thing about non-theory CS people interacting with theoretical CS people is that they usually present exactly the same arguments/problems/ideas that everyone else does. Believe me, you get _really_ bored by the seventeenth time you have to address the question "but what if the theorem prover has bugs in it?!", pronounced with the swagger of someone who believes they have just hit upon a novel idea. I imagine that if I turned up to a gathering of high-energy particle physicists, I don't think they would pay much attention to my thoughts on the subject either. It's not dismissive behaviour, either. It's actually just a common mistake within CS to believe that you can turn your hand to any part of CS - you're essentially participating in a very high-level discussion. To answer the original question, I've found people in the top echelons of theoretical CS to be extremely patient and friendly. I asked some really silly questions of top researchers (in one-on-one or small group situations) as an undergraduate that probably deserved to be answered with disdain - I still cringe in retrospect. The most biting retort I ever got was "Oh, that's covered in <such-and-such-a-paper>, which is worth reading if you're interested in this". Hardly a telling-off. For the most part, people have always taken the time to explain things from first principles, or re-state them in ways that I could understand. The idea of the ivory tower is a bit of a misconception. You're talking about very, very smart people who are usually more than accommodating when it comes to answering genuine questions or just engaging in discussions. I would jump at the chance to talk to them about anything and everything - it'll be interesting to say the least, and they are some of the nicest people you'll meet in CS.

yalurker 17y ago
Clarifying point - although coliveira's comment was as something of a true outsider, the original comment in the linked article was from a published phD student in theory who felt snubbed based on his response to "What school do you go to?"
- gdp 17y ago
  Oh, duly noted. That wasn't obvious to me from my initial reading of the article. That said, that's certainly contrary to my experiences. Most smart people are suckers for interesting research, and if you're doing something interesting, people will feel like discussing it. Of course, most people often like talking about their own work more. If that's really a concern, just school up on the work of a few people and ask them about their research in a semi-intelligent way. It's just human that we're often much more interesting to ourselves than other people are.

by gdp 17y ago

yalurker 17y ago

Clarifying point - although coliveira's comment was as something of a true outsider, the original comment in the linked article was from a published phD student in theory who felt snubbed based on his response to "What school do you go to?"

gdp 17y ago
Oh, duly noted. That wasn't obvious to me from my initial reading of the article. That said, that's certainly contrary to my experiences. Most smart people are suckers for interesting research, and if you're doing something interesting, people will feel like discussing it. Of course, most people often like talking about their own work more. If that's really a concern, just school up on the work of a few people and ask them about their research in a semi-intelligent way. It's just human that we're often much more interesting to ourselves than other people are.