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Is self studying physics worth it?

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 00:24:16 2021 No.13867463 View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>13867520 >>13867580 >>13867622 >>13869851

Elon Musk says that in order to innovate, one must think in first principles which is essentially what physics is.

Is it worthwhile to learn advanced physics (to the grad level) in order to make yourself a better engineer? Will knowing quantum field theory aid you in creating something entirely new?

What should one study in their free time in order to become a true innovator?

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 00:42:10 No.13867509 Report

Quoted By: >>13869904

You should focus on two fundamental problems:
-how to get parents who own an emerald mine
-how to get the US to hand over patents and then subsidize you to develop them

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 00:46:25 No.13867520 Report

Quoted By: >>13867581

>>13867463
You can learn all the physics you want, but knowledge that isn't applied becomes forgotten.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 00:47:21 No.13867521 Report

Quoted By:

>smellon buttsk

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 00:51:49 No.13867535 Report

Quoted By:

>Is it worthwhile to learn advanced physics (to the grad level) in order to make yourself a better engineer?
Probably not.

>Will knowing quantum field theory aid you in creating something entirely new?
Possibly, if it is in a field where quantum field theory is a relevant framework to apply. Most of engineering or indeed anything else is not such a field.

>What should one study in their free time in order to become a true innovator?
Whatever you have enough interest in to study in sufficient depth and breath that you can contribute to it. I do think you're putting the cart before the horse and more generally as far as getting rich and famous goes trying to invent space age technology is probably the hardest way to do it.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 01:06:42 No.13867580 Report

Quoted By:

>>13867463
If you’re nuclear engineer, it is absolutely worthwhile to know some advanced physics. Most modeling is done with Monte Carlo methods, which themselves use perturbation theory. If you wanted to make something new models, you actually would need to know some higher level physics.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 01:06:45 No.13867581 Report

Quoted By: >>13867619

>>13867520
sure but intuition doesn't. doing all those problems will reframe your mindset in a way that is beneficial to your life really everywhere desu. things will click because in the back of your mind you've already learned it.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 01:25:07 No.13867619 Report

Quoted By: >>13867645

>>13867581
No, it really doesn't. I'm sure it sounds nice to tell yourself that. But the reality is it doesn't matter if it's a poem, recipe, or a year of grad level real analysis. You use it or lose it.
The idea that advanced math and physics unlock higher dimensions of critical thinking is ass backwards. The type of people who could enroll in those courses are already highly capable to begin with. Someone is smart, therefore they study math. Not because.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 01:25:33 No.13867622 Report

Quoted By:

>>13867463
>is it worthwhile to learn advanced physics in order to make yourself a better engineer?
No
>what should one study in their free time in order to become a true innovator?
If you want to be an innovator, you should direct most of your attention to practical endeavours, as opposed to theoretical/intellectual ones. Ideas will arise as solutions to the problems you'll be challenged with - that is, of course, if you're a creative person. I'm not saying you should neglect your studies, but rather that no ammount of textbooks and papers will help you get better at making things if you're not practicing the very activity of making things.

That being said, I assume that Musk was talking about how the same intuitive reasoning that is used in physics is also used to innovate. If that is the case, I agree with bim. However, that doesn't necessarily mean you have to study advanced physics to be a good innovator.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 01:35:58 No.13867645 Report

Quoted By: >>13867665 >>13867689

>>13867619
you can't deny that at least in the beginning, physics requires you to think a bit differently or at least more systematically. what do you know? what do you need to know? that kind of thinking stays man

i agree that things do get lost when you don't use them but you don't lose it all. i'm sure if you were to review the material you would get it much faster than you did the first time around because now you have this intuition for it whether you know it or not. i don't see why this intuition can't be extrapolated to other areas

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 01:42:23 No.13867665 Report

Quoted By:

>>13867645
Wait til you're about to hit 30 like me and you'll see for yourself.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 01:50:54 No.13867689 Report

Quoted By:

>>13867645
>i'm sure if you were to review the material you would get it much faster than you did the first time around
Sure, although after a while I don't know that this will continue to hold, from personal experience specifically relating to advanced physics.

>i don't see why this intuition can't be extrapolated to other areas
The problem is with trying to justify studying something which is difficult, time-consuming and obscure by saying that you might be able to extrapolate some kind of thinking to apply into other areas. In almost every case it would be preferable to just study these other areas, whatever they are, and if you're doing engineering they probably won't be the latest and greatest in physics.

There is some overlap between cutting edge research in engineering and physics. However trying to learn all of advanced physics in the hope that it will provide any kind of benefit in your engineering problem is ass backwards. If you want to learn engineering, learn engineering first, and you might eventually find that to get to where you want to be you need to learn some specific bit of advanced physics, and then you can just do that.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 02:00:49 No.13867725 Report

Quoted By: >>13868894

Elon is mostly LARP. He doesn’t create things. He creates amazing teams that create things

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 11:07:49 No.13868894 Report

Quoted By:

>>13867725
What makes you think so

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 19:39:00 No.13869851 Report

Quoted By: >>13870336

>>13867463
do you find it interesting and enjoy it? or perhaps find it fulfilling even if it isnt that fun? if so, then yes/maybe

realistically, you probably wont be an innovator, but you will definitely die someday. just depends where you want to spend your limited thinking hours during your life

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 20:04:15 No.13869904 Report

Quoted By:

>>13867509
t. Elongated Mustard

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 19 Nov 2021 22:13:22 No.13870336 Report

Quoted By:

>>13869851
realistically with that mindset yeah, you won't be shit. all it takes is and hardwork anon

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