11–20 of 97 posts
I'm not a fan of how people talk about "first principles" as I think it just leads to lots of confusion. It's a phrase common in computer science that makes many other scientific communities cringe. First principles are things that cannot be reduced and you have to have very good justifications for these axioms. The reason the other scientific communities cringe is because either (most likely case) it's being used im…
I'm not a fan of how people talk about "first principles" as I think it just leads to lots of confusion. It's a phrase common in computer science that makes many other scientific communities cringe. First principles are things that cannot be reduced and you have to have very good justifications for these axioms. The reason the other scientific communities cringe is because either (most likely case) it's being used im…
Let's suppose the aim of the article was indeed to learn PBR from first principles, what would it look like? Quantum electrodynamics?
I think there is merit in exploring different physical models for fun and scientific curiosity (like I mentioned in the first chapter). I (personally) feel that it's boring to just dump equations like Snell's law without exploring the deeper meaning behind it. I also feel that it's easier to grasp if you have some surface knowledge about more complex physical models.
I agree however that I probably made many mistakes since I didn't study physics, I'd appreciate any feedback to improve that.
I dislike "Physically Based Rendering: From Theory To Implementation", I personally think that the literate programming approach of the book is way too confusing and disorganized. I prefer the SIGGRAPH talk by Naty Hoffman[0]
I'm not a fan of how people talk about "first principles" as I think it just leads to lots of confusion. It's a phrase common in computer science that makes many other scientific communities cringe. First principles are things that cannot be reduced and you have to have very good justifications for these axioms. The reason the other scientific communities cringe is because either (most likely case) it's being used im…
The author went down to the electromagnetic wave theory of light. How much more “first principles” could this article be!?
> How much more “first principles” could this article be!?
As to your actual question(?) of "how more fundamental can it be"? Well, the answer is a lot. They barely scratched E&M theory. I specifically mentioned that even a undergraduate in physics would be exposed to much more fundamental aspects. Likely even before their junior year.
But if you're asking "how much more fundamental should* it be" well most of my comment is arguing that it should not be. I argued that it generally isn't a good idea to start from first principles, and I'll even argue that it probably isn't a good idea to start there even if they are in quotes.
I'm not a fan of how people talk about "first principles" as I think it just leads to lots of confusion. It's a phrase common in computer science that makes many other scientific communities cringe. First principles are things that cannot be reduced and you have to have very good justifications for these axioms. The reason the other scientific communities cringe is because either (most likely case) it's being used im…
The author went down to the electromagnetic wave theory of light. How much more “first principles” could this article be!?
I'm not a fan of how people talk about "first principles" as I think it just leads to lots of confusion. It's a phrase common in computer science that makes many other scientific communities cringe. First principles are things that cannot be reduced and you have to have very good justifications for these axioms. The reason the other scientific communities cringe is because either (most likely case) it's being used im…
Not that it's not a useful phrase—of course it is. But it seems like it's an abuse of what should be called "core agreed assumptions" or something.
I'm not a fan of how people talk about "first principles" as I think it just leads to lots of confusion. It's a phrase common in computer science that makes many other scientific communities cringe. First principles are things that cannot be reduced and you have to have very good justifications for these axioms. The reason the other scientific communities cringe is because either (most likely case) it's being used im…
I think the idea is supposed to be to go back to the "first principals [that you would have been taught]." Which, yes, sometimes you will learn things that show these early teachings were wrong. Often, though, you can get far more mileage out of the naive models than people want to admit.
To that end, I think used judiciously, this has merit. Rarely does anything go against early teaching. It should lean on the specific assumptions and why they do or do not apply anymore, though.
I'm not a fan of how people talk about "first principles" as I think it just leads to lots of confusion. It's a phrase common in computer science that makes many other scientific communities cringe. First principles are things that cannot be reduced and you have to have very good justifications for these axioms. The reason the other scientific communities cringe is because either (most likely case) it's being used im…
The author went down to the electromagnetic wave theory of light. How much more “first principles” could this article be!?
I'm not a fan of how people talk about "first principles" as I think it just leads to lots of confusion. It's a phrase common in computer science that makes many other scientific communities cringe. First principles are things that cannot be reduced and you have to have very good justifications for these axioms. The reason the other scientific communities cringe is because either (most likely case) it's being used im…
Thanks for the constructive criticism! A few points I'd like to discuss: Let's suppose the aim of the article was indeed to learn PBR from first principles, what would it look like? Quantum electrodynamics? I think there is merit in exploring different physical models for fun and scientific curiosity (like I mentioned in the first chapter). I (personally) feel that it's boring to just dump equations like Snell's law…
Something like that, yes. A truly from-first-principles treatment of photon-surface interactions would involve an extremely deep dive into quantum numbers, molecular orbitals, solid state physics and crystal lattices (which are metals), including a discussion about how electron waves superpose to produce various conduction/valence bands with various band gaps, and then discuss how photons interact with these bands.
I'm not a fan of how people talk about "first principles" as I think it just leads to lots of confusion. It's a phrase common in computer science that makes many other scientific communities cringe. First principles are things that cannot be reduced and you have to have very good justifications for these axioms. The reason the other scientific communities cringe is because either (most likely case) it's being used im…
You couldn't have been any closer. I emerged feeling extremely stupid after doing physics at uni. My rather mediocre marks didn't help...