cricket

[User482]

I probably learnt more when I wasn't learning than when I was. In fact I've probably forgot more than you know.

Who'd like this gem for their signature? Form an orderly queue, and no pushing at the back...

 

[yello]

Hmmmm, is that a very round about admission of thickness?

Good lord no! Quite the opposite in fact. It shows an incredible awareness of how things are. Thickies don't possess that and live in a self contained world. Clever people are aware of their limitations!

 

[Rhythm Thief]

to do a PhD ARch you've gotto discover something that no-one else has ever discovered, orcome up with some theory that no-one else has ever theorized. And THEN you've got to do a hard work putting it into words.

Oh, fantastic. Another 38 page thread looms now it turns out that Bonj knows all there is to know about PhDs.

 

[Arch]

Oh, fantastic. Another 38 page thread looms now it turns out that Bonj knows all there is to know about PhDs.

But interestingly, in explaining it, has lost his ability to type, punctuate, etc...

 

[bonj2]

But interestingly, in explaining it, has lost his ability to type, punctuate, etc...

Shame that punctuation doesn't get you as far as coming up with a theory no-one else has ever discovered.

 

[Andy in Sig]

Shame that punctuation doesn't get you as far as coming up with a theory no-one else has ever discovered.

I don't think that one discovers theories, rather one develops one in order to explain data which one may or may not have discovered.

 

[marinyork]

I don't think that one discovers theories, rather one develops one in order to explain data which one may or may not have discovered.

Why not? That kind of suggests it didn't exist beforehand and some human "invented" it, or in your terminology developed it.

 

[Andy in Sig]

But you can't discover a theory: it is not some fully formed thing lying in a box waiting for the lid to be opened (unless you find one that another scientist has left lying about). A theory only exists once it has been formulated. The facts which it seeks to explain may well have been around since the beginning of time.

 

[marinyork]

Er, yes it is. If theories didn't exist fully formed as you put it then the universe wouldn't function. If anything at some kind of level it's quite possibly the other way round to what you've said, it's the theories that matter and the data that has been dormant for some time waiting till that moment to meat out something and have some scientist explain it away.

 

[bonj2]

alright COME UP WITH a theory then...

 

[Andy in Sig]

Theories are a human construct. By definition they don't exist until someone formulates them. The systems or phenomena they describe e.g. gravity have always existed. Thus phycisists are still trying to come up with a universal theory of everything but their best efforts still do not satisfactorily account for the observed phenomena, hence the theories continue to be developed.

 

[marinyork]

Theories are a human construct. By definition they don't exist until someone formulates them. The systems or phenomena they describe e.g. gravity have always existed. Thus phycisists are still trying to come up with a universal theory of everything but their best efforts still do not satisfactorily account for the observed phenomena, hence the theories continue to be developed.

What are you on about Andy in Sig. The "phenomena" or "systems" as you describe them are the theories. They don't decide to behave in such a way and then wait for people to measure them and then it becomes a "theory". There would be no (meaningful at least) universe without them. As someone that bangs on about linguistics I'd expect you to understand that. You're attaching far too much importance on the human side of it. Yes there is a something and process of humans discovering them but that's merely a side issue.

As for GUTs and TOEs, they already exist out there it is merely that humans haven't discovered all of it/them yet. There are an extremely large number of false vacua. Many non-mainstream physicists think it is merely a matter of discovering which and other details along the way. So if you take a different viewpoint from your own they have always existed too, waiting to be discovered one day...

 

[Arch]

I'm fairly sure I've discovered all my toes. 10, right? Guts I can't be so sure of, I can't see them, but they seem to work alright...

 

[Speicher]

I probably learnt more when I wasn't learning than when I was. In fact I've probably forgot more than you know.

I may need some help here with the sums.

Let's see.

I know that Bonj has forgotten X amount of knowledge.

He has admitted to forgetting more knowledge than I know (or think) that he has forgotten.

Bonj has therefore forgotten X times 3 amounts of knowledge.

Bonj only knew X times 2 amounts of knowledge in the first place.

 

[marinyork]

I may need some help here with the sums.

Let's see.

I know that Bonj has forgotten X amount of knowledge.

He has admitted to forgetting more knowledge than I know (or think) that he has forgotten.

Bonj has therefore forgotten X times 3 amounts of knowledge.

Bonj only knew X times 2 amounts of knowledge in the first place.

You trying to construct a paradox machine and out will pop David Tennant?