Re: Global Warming Propaganda In Schools.

On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 18:57:11 +0000 (UTC), anw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Dr
A. N. Walker) wrote:

" How would you explain that to the layman, that electrons are not the
" classical particles people want to believe they are. " ?

Of course, one possible answer is that you spend several years on
teaching them physics.

Then he would no longer be a layman.

I suspect most people just want a sensible
answer when they ask how a neon light works, and that your forays
into la-la land will not be very successful.

What is "la-la land"? The Real World?

Thanks for making my point.

He just wanted to know enough to
understand the concept, so that he could decide whether or not the
government in which he was a minister should spend large amounts
of money supporting research into it.

I hope whoever had the job of explaining, they bullshitted the living
crap out of him. The more bullshit, the more money.

Here's what I would like for you to do. I want you to "explain" QED to
a layman so that he will be able to calculate the magnetic moment of
the electron using first principles. [...]
Just don't tell us it's impossible.

Of course it's not impossible. It's the sort of thing we
do all the time; the whole point of university teaching is to
turn lay people into professionals.

But they are not laymen anymore. I am talking about getting a layman
to understand and remain a layman.

If you really want me to do it, how much will you pay?

I already have one Ph.D. in Physics so I don't need a second one.

To calculate magnetic
moments from first principles requires a degree of mastery far
beyond what is normally, in common English, meant by "explain to
a layman".

Thank you for making my point.

Life is too short for us to gain mastery in more than
a small handful of subjects. So we make do with much lesser
expertise in a much wider range, and with a passing acquaintance
of a much wider range still. It's gaining that "lesser expertise"
that becomes very difficult when TV programmes, books, etc are
dumbed down to the point that [eg] calculus can't be mentioned.

I have never figured out how so-called "Liberal Arts" majors were not
required to master mathematics, when it was one of the liberal arts. I
was required to master English and a foreign language (German) because
that was the mark of a Liberal Arts major. I also was forced to take
History. Why aren't non-science majors forced to take mathematics,
physics, chemistry, et al?

I suppose the answer is really quite simple - they aren't Real Liberal
Arts majors after all. They are frauds.

Anyone who claims to be educated and does not understand calculus (not
just know it but be able to solve real problems) is a fraud. They do
not have any clue what is happening around them in the physical world.



--

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
--Benjamin Franklin
.

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