The Most Important Thing You Can Learn from Physics Forums - Comments

[ZapperZ]

ZapperZ submitted a new PF Insights post

The Most Important Thing You Can Learn from Physics Forums

Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

 

[Borg]

You get to learn why some of your questions are deemed vague when you thought it was perfectly clear, you might even being to realize why making clear and exact citation to the sources of your information is crucial

This has indeed been one of the most helpful things that I have learned on the forum. I just wish PF had been around (along with the internet) when I was in college.

 

[thankz]

pf opened my eyes to the math and other things I was missing, much thanks.

 

[davidbenari]

I kind of feel the internet sheds some light into the internal mechanics of the so-called "Moore's Law". Without access to this forum I would be way more stupid. I think this new access to knowledge creates better scientists each generation.

 

[OmCheeto]

Can you clearly cite a source where the word "under" can be used as a verb?
I'm not finding it. ;P

"I’ve mentioned our insistence that members who wish to under about stuff they read, heard, etc. must cite their sources clearly."

 

[OCR]

Can you clearly cite a source where the word "under" can be used as a verb?

Aww, that was just a simple typo...

It should really be read as ...

"I’ve mentioned our insistence that members who wish to wunder^[1] about stuff they read^[2], heard, etc. must cite their sources clearly."

 

[Telemachus]

Back then, we did not have easy access to a lot of things. And this includes access to people who know a lot more than us about things that we were about to go into. For many of us physicists, we didn’t have easy access to other physicists, especially before we entered college. Even in college, we encountered our instructors and faculty members only in the academic settings. Very seldom do we get to learn anything deeper than that. We usually did not have a chance to ask them why they chose to become physicists, what they went through to become physicists, what they think about the profession, what does it mean to be a physicist, where do they find time for a social life when they were students, do they follow any sports, do they think women’s high heels are part of some social evolutionary selection, etc… etc. In general, just talking to people who are already in the profession that you are aiming for. Many of us didn’t get to do that mainly because there were just no easy access to these people.

It is rather obvious that most members of this forum are not in science, not practicing scientists/engineers, probably a lot of students still very early in their education, or just folks who have some curiosity and interest in physics, or science/engineering in general. In other words, most of you do not have easy or regular access to scientists and engineers. Sure, you can read their writings of these people on the web, or if you are a student at a university, you get to interact with them in the academic settings. But as we were back before the internet days, you don’t get to really TALK and have a conversation about stuff, or learn about their profession from the people who are actually doing it.

This place is great. Entering here and finding people wirting stuff about their works in the mainstream of science, in places like the LHC, or whatever, scientist talking about their work, I think this is a great thing, the spirit of cooperation in this place, it is the spirit of scientific cooperation. I love this forum. I've been posting in other forums for a long long time (not science related), and the community is way different than here. Here the community is pretty inclusive, the users are always working to help people understand, and not to feel that they are better than the others. There is a continuous effort to construct knowledge.

Some times I think that it would be great to find discussions on other topics, like politics, religions, and social sciences in this forum, I don't know if there already is a subforum for that. But at the same time I think that those discussions tend to divide people. Anyway, I think it would be enriching to know the political ideologies, the social and religious points of views of so particular people as the ones that make this forum. And that the discussion of this topics in this community, where practicly there are no 'scientific illeterate' as Neil De Grase says in somewhere, I think that those discussion in this place could really contribute to give ideas on how to deal and how to solve the many problems societies all around the world face day to day.

We try to enforce many things here on PF, and some of them to the dislike of many members. I’ve mentioned our insistence that members who wish to under about stuff they read, heard, etc. must cite their sources clearly. This is a normal practice in science and engineering. We includes tons of citations in our papers, our funding proposals, our reports, etc. It is part of our standard operating procedure, making sure whoever reads it knows where the source of such-and-such information comes from. This is not a common practice for the general public. Newspapers very seldom provide such exact citations. Politicians are even worse – they seem to claim A causes B without even providing any justification, something we can’t do in science. We also often comment that the questions being asked sometime are as important, if not more, than the answers that one seek. That is something many of us in science learn very quickly. To be able to answer a question about nature, we must know exactly what we are asking, and what we mean by our question.

Great words. Politics is ordinarily driven as a religion, when it should really be the closest to a science as it could be.

Sorry for my english, I love this place.

Greetings.

 

[Amrator]

Fantastic post!

 

[Drakkith]

Great article, ZZ!

 

[Dembadon]

I kind of feel the internet sheds some light into the internal mechanics of the so-called "Moore's Law". Without access to this forum I would be way more stupid. I think this new access to knowledge creates better scientists each generation.

Without this forum, I would believe myself to be a lot smarter than I actually am.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

Yes, I see .

 

[gianeshwar]

Thanks Zapper Z!

 

[ZapperZ]

Gosh, I really should proofread what I write more carefully. That article is full of typos and errors!

Zz.

 

[WWGD]

<Snip>
Some times I think that it would be great to find discussions on other topics, like politics, religions, and social sciences in this forum, I don't know if there already is a subforum for that. But at the same time I think that those discussions tend to divide people. Anyway, I think it would be enriching to know the political ideologies, the social and religious points of views of so particular people as the ones that make this forum. And that the discussion of this topics in this community, where practicly there are no 'scientific illeterate' as Neil De Grase says in somewhere, I think that those discussion in this place could really contribute to give ideas on how to deal and how to solve the many problems societies all around the world face day to day.
<Snip>

Greetings.

Try : https://www.physicsforums.com/forums/general-discussion.14/

 

[Astronuc]

Gosh, I really should proofread what I write more carefully. That article is full of typos and errors!

Zz.

We understands. Ostensibly, an author may edit his or her content.

Also, many of the staff are practicing scientist, educators and/or engineers, as well as students on their way, hopefully, to careers in science, engineering, technology and/or education. As professionals, we continue to learn throughout our professional careers, and we hopefully mentor and encourage, or otherwise inspire, the next and future generations.