Thank you for this, Guno. Great stuff. We are moving along nicely toward greater and greater understanding of whatever exists.
I do wish, however, that scientists were more careful with their wording.
"The universe" as used in your first sentence (and as most scientists seem to use it) MAY NOT BE all that exists.
Because of this (careless) wording on the part of scientists, we tend to suppose that "the universe" means "all that exists."
There may be a day where we actually discover that more exists than "the universe." That day may never come for humans. But it is something that matters...and something we ought to acknowledge.
MAGA MAN (01-10-2019)
Guno צְבִי (01-10-2019)
And thanks for reminding me about Hawking's book, which surprisingly I have not read yet.
Circling back to good teachers:
Based on my limited experience with scientists, educators, academia, and bureaucracies, I think some significant part of the problem of crappy teaching comes down to language and lexicon.
People trained in science spend eight years in college learning a whole new language, jargon, and plethora of technical terms. And it seems to me they are loathe to give them up, and just explain things in simple, plain-language terms. I actually think some of these people think they won't sound as smart if they defer to simple, plain-language English lexicon, and they are somewhat addicted to specialized jargon. . Others probably are just clinging to the jargon out of habit, and not realizing that jargon is a piss poor way to teach and educate the layperson, or the average undergraduate.
I am constantly telling technical people to use plain language, and you would be amazed at how little attention is paid by a lot of scientists to communicating in clear, concise, and lucid plain-English language.
Guno צְבִי (01-10-2019), ThatOwlWoman (01-10-2019)
MAGA MAN (01-10-2019)
CharacterAssassin (01-10-2019), Frank Apisa (01-10-2019), Guno צְבִי (01-10-2019)
I just ordered the Neil DeGrasse one you mentioned.
Yeah, that jargon is a thing in just about every profession. Young doctors (and nurses too) often resort to that, I think to impress a patient with their education and knowledge. Kind of a way to gain cred when the person lacks experience!
Cypress (01-10-2019), Guno צְבִי (01-10-2019), Phantasmal (01-10-2019)
"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
— Joe Biden on Obama.
Socialism is just the modern word for monarchy.
D.C. has become a Guild System with an hierarchy and line of accession much like the Royal Court or priestly classes.
Private citizens are perfectly able of doing a better job without "apprenticing".
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