The Reasons Why...a Physics Student should make their Professor Pay the Student to read the Teachers

Continued....Yes....the main basis of obtaining greater understanding has always been building ideas upon other peoples ideas over time. And for some things....this works very well. This is not true as far as the Physics being discussed in this topic.

What has been occuring is like building floors of a building upon a faulty constructed foundation. We use theories for some things because they work to an extent....but can never be fully utilized because they are but pieces of a larger reality.

You really shouldn't make assumptions about people or me in the way you have....just because that person is trying to make the problem known to more people....since those who have spent lifetimes in an attempt to solve issues that they neither have the tools or the IQ to allow them to do so...those acadamians will hold fast to their work....even when it becomes obvious....they are lost without a map....and will defend their mistakes no matter what.....to be continued....Split Infinity

reply to post by Kandinsky


LOL u made me smile) Care to chat about this in the chat room? I would be honored . ( not being sarcastic) Its really a pretty good topic I think cause no ones really ever frigged out anything of cosmic importance and been taken seriously since Einstein really..........

This is in the E.T. forum because....in order for E.T. craft to travel as they do....thus using a GRAVITIC DRIVE....they need to understand the unified Field Theory.

Now every current theory out there has not been able to make the connection between the Quantum world and the Macro-Univere....and that is because....theories such as Super-string or M-theory...are limiting themselves to just a few constructs within a much larger system......continued....Split Infinity

We know that certain sub-atomic particles are not only blinking in and out of existance....but are also actually performing more that one state of reaction or condition simultaniously. This small glimpse of Quantum level behavior has stumped even the most celebrated of minds.

None of these minds has come even close to describing any math, theorum, design or model that can explain this.....yet the previous models teaching still continues....and at a steep prise to the student. Split Infinity

If you observe a UFO that is moving at impossible speeds within Earths atmosphere.....and changing direction without a hint of slowing down....or apearing to the observer as if the object is either changing shape or even appearing to change in numerical quantity....all the while moving at speed and trajectories that hints of the removal of inertia.....this pretty much blows away all models that acadamia is professing. Split Infinity

reply to post by SplitInfinity


It appears that the trigger behind this sympathized and interestingly cathartic UFO-rant exists the possibility that your professor’s material fails to mention interstellar travel(?).

That doesn’t mean that he/she hasn’t entertained potential hypotheses that many of us non-physicists could ever dream to imagine, but how would his reputation withstand such perceived outlandish unempirical speculation?

Would that make a textbook/scientific publication or merely science fiction?

As stated, even Einstein only talked about “Spooky Motion” with his friends. People continue to question the foundation of the theories that drove Einstein to his observations.

This post didn’t fall on deaf ears & many of us that maintain the painful love-hate academic paradox feel your pain. Just last year, I endured a ‘big fish/little pond’ experience with an individual that needed (but wasn't getting) psychotherapy for the very disorder(s) he was describing!

Fortunately, you can gain solace in the fact that, in the predictors of academic success: effort, intellect (potential), and creativity, your bases are covered. You can always publish your ideas & don’t worry if they’re ludicrous; what’s the worst that could happen--they’ll become sci-fi & spawn a religion?

Click here for more information.

Originally posted by SplitInfinity
What has been occuring is like building floors of a building upon a faulty constructed foundation. We use theories for some things because they work to an extent....but can never be fully utilized because they are but pieces of a larger reality.

You really shouldn't make assumptions about people or me in the way you have....just because that person is trying to make the problem known to more people....since those who have spent lifetimes in an attempt to solve issues that they neither have the tools or the IQ to allow them to do so...those acadamians will hold fast to their work....even when it becomes obvious....they are lost without a map....and will defend their mistakes no matter what.....to be continued....Split Infinity

I can't say I agree with your stance on this issue. Maybe you've had some really bad lecturers, I don't know. But for someone complaining about assumptions made about you, you sure seem to be making a lot of assumptions about professors and lecturers. If you think they are wrong, point out where they are wrong. If you can't tell them exactly why they're wrong, who are you to tell them that they are when you're not any more right than they are? Maybe they think the same things you do, but you can't get a degree in things we don't know about yet. They have a job to do, and that is to give their students the knowledge and ability to do what their degree expects of them.

I don't think it is a lecturers resposnsibility to tell you exactly how the entire world works. They can only give you the tools, and you should try do it for yourself. None of my lecturers have been anything like what you describe. If I could point out a mistake they were making, they would happily accept that they had done so. I know universities are expensive (if I had an issue, it's with the Vice Chancellor, not the lecturers). But my lecturers have valuable experience in applying things that work, and I appreciate that. Some are worse than others, but I don't expect them to tell me exactly why quantum physics works the way it does, and I definitely don't expect them to have the answers to every question in the universe. I think that it's up to me to answer those for myself.

Correction, professors do know a lot. Anyone who has applied their theories knows this.

Originally posted by catwhoknowsplusone
reply to post by Kandinsky

 

OP has a legitimate claim.

He does not.

A good Professor teaches theories and presents all the alternatives.

I am a university lecturer and teach chemistry. My purpose is teach my students to think critically and analytically about chemistry. I equip my students with the ability to think for themselves within my subject, and enable them to go out and do chemistry in the big wide world.

My job is to prepare my students for the world outside. I teach them to be responsible, analytical thinkers, and above all, by the time they leave, they should be fully aware of their future potential as chemists. That is all that matters. If they learn some chemistry along the way, then good for them.

Perhaps the OP needs to find a different university.

It is not just Physics classes. In Hyles Anderson Bible College, every class uses textbooks written by the teachers of that class. It increases their income. Bottom line.

Originally posted by Saurus
Perhaps the OP needs to find a different university.

I agree if the OP's university instructors are claiming they know everything, then he or she definitely needs to find another university.

Physics was one of my undergraduate majors and my instructors certainly didn't claim to know everything. A great deal of time was spent reviewing historical experiments and observations which built up the history of how we came to believe what we came to believe today. And my instructors would admit what we don't know as easily as they would cite what happened in a previous experiment.

I've also instructed university students and I expect them to think for themselves. And I don't claim to know everything and I don't personally know any instructors who do claim that (which doesn't mean they don't exist, but it does give me reason to consider the OP claim with some skepticism). So yes, in the unlikely event you really do have instructors who think they know everything, you should look for another university. That is not a typical mindset.

And for some documentation to show that physicists don't claim to know everything, please see this collection of unsolved problems in physics
Why would people the OP claims think they know everything, make a long list of all the things they don't know?

Hint: because they don't think they know everything?

Im sure you have your reasons for completely ignoring the benificial effects of the work of these "know nothings" who have dominated the world of physics for years. However, ignore them or deride them or not, the fact of the matter is that each generation of thinkers has inspired the next, so asserting your anger at these people is somewhat like me aiming my ire at homo erectus because I do not like how my body works.

The reality is this, if you want to learn all that has come before in the wierd world of physics, then you can go to a university, and learn about all that is currently thought to be the truth. Once you have been there a while, you can then begin to rebuild the universe in your mind, in a way that suits your mode of thinking. However, to attempt to rebuild the universe in your mind, without being made aware of the past mistakes, and past achievements of those who gave birth to your field is utterly beyond reason.

Further to this, when you are used to rebuilding the universe in your mind, you can ask others to veiw the results of this intellectual architectural excersize, and see what they make of it.

However, without absorbing the fibre ,the history of physics, without knowing the weaknesses and strengths of thinkers that have come before you, how is it that you expect to make your own way without falling victims to the same mental cul de sacs explored by past pioneers? How can you expect to follow the promising lines of thought, without having the back history to base your navigation of this subject on?

You cannot.

It may be that your teacher, should you have one, is some sort of massive bonehead, and may for all I know , have all the imagination and mental agility of an amoeba. But that does not mean that ALL the grand ideas , and theorums that have come before yours are of no use whatsoever.

It is only recently that the thinking of Einstien has even been firmly questioned, and only by chance that a reason to do so was stumbled on. Wether his theories will stand up to the test of another age of science , who knows, but that doesnt mean that his thinking is worthless.

I very much doubt that you could do much better. Of course, I hope that you do, for in such things lies the future of our species. However, might be an idea to save your trumpet blowing for when you have been there and done it all , eh?

I believe, OP, that you are misdirecting your critic. The problem is that education (in the "first world") has become a market, it is capitalized, promoted and sold. And that brought a lot of crap into the academic world that has changed the priority of many (but not all, and certainly not the majority) proffs. and scientists.

I had the luck of being born in a #ty thirld world country where education is open and free to everyone, where universities belong to US (We can walk into most classes without even being registered in the Univ.) so I can tell you that I have no such problem with my proffesors, I am not denying the existance of douche-bags in the Academic world, at all. But I believe you are mixing a lot of "hard feelings" about problems that have very different causes and influences...

Never forget that what defines us as scientists, and as human beings is what we don't know.
That's why we want to be scientists, because we love knowing how much we don't know.

[Standard salutations]
Drakus

reply to post by drakus


Is it really open and free, or are you paying taxes? There is a difference.

It is free whether you can pay taxes or not.
It's not about money.

reply to post by 547000


I didnt mind paying taxes, but then they started charging people for going to university in my country. I think thats got to be the most underhanded bit of social engineering you could hope to see.

This was made all the more horrific, because the slimy , suit wearing econofascist scumbags who passed it through parliament, all went to university for free.

Theres no justice , just a lot of law these days.

reply to post by drakus


You mean you don't go to jail if you don't pay taxes? A truly free university would be one where no professor expects to be paid for teaching by anyone and does it out of his goodwill, kind of like charitable work. As long as they are getting a salary it's not truly free.