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New sphere-packing record stems from an unexpected source

quantamagazine.org

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Re: New sphere-packing record stems from an unexpected source

#51

Post by Workaccount2 »

clickety_clack wrote: post #7

I have trouble explaining to my parents how my job is a real thing. I can only imagine trying to explain ‘I study shapes, but only ones that don’t jut inwards’.

I have my own micro business where I make equipment for high energy physics machines.

I have yet to figure out a way to tell people what my business is in a way that is even slightly accessible. Everything about it is so esoteric and multiple steps removed from regular life. It's not necessarily complex, it just contains a ton of details that the average person has no familiar contact with, and don't really have everyday analogues.

Re: New sphere-packing record stems from an unexpected source

#52

Post by EvanAnderson »

bell-cot wrote: post #38
EvanAnderson wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would only work if you were getting repeat inquiries from the same person. Otherwise it's just the longest possible option for each new inquiry. I always opt for excruciating detail because it's what I enjoy the most.

> That would only work if ... Sounds like none of the people you answered, in excruciating detail, cared to warn other people about what would happen if they asked you.

Ahh! I didn't think about the word-of-mouth. Good call.

Re: New sphere-packing record stems from an unexpected source

#53

Post by jiggawatts »

thorum wrote: post #26
doubledamio wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't explain something in simple terms, you don't understand it well enough

Some ideas are too complex to explain accurately in simple terms. You can give someone a simple explanation of quantum chromodynamics and have them walk away feeling like they learned something, but only by glossing over or misrepresenting critical details. You’d basically just be lying to them.

Quantum Mechanics is the example of a subject where supposed experts don’t really understand it either and hence can’t explain it adequately.

Also, it’s hilarious to get comments like this voted down by non-experts who assume this must be an outsider’s uninformed point of view.

I have a physics degree and I studied the origins and history of quantum mechanics. Its “founding fathers” all admitted that it’s a bunch of guesswork and that the models we have are arbitrary and lack something essential needed for proper understanding.

Re: New sphere-packing record stems from an unexpected source

#54

Post by Angostura »

dkarl wrote: post #12
clickety_clack wrote: post #7

I have trouble explaining to my parents how my job is a real thing. I can only imagine trying to explain ‘I study shapes, but only ones that don’t jut inwards’.

I've found it's best to explain my job using unintelligible jargon. There are three choices, really: You can give a quick explanation in terms they understand, which makes your job sound easy and makes them wonder how anybody gets paid to do it. You can explain what you do and why it's important in terms they understand, but it'll take so long they'll get bored and wish they hadn't asked. Or you can give a quick expl…

The latter option always comes across as rude. It's a very clear 'piss off you insect'

Re: New sphere-packing record stems from an unexpected source

#55

Post by Angostura »

thorum wrote: post #26
doubledamio wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't explain something in simple terms, you don't understand it well enough

Some ideas are too complex to explain accurately in simple terms. You can give someone a simple explanation of quantum chromodynamics and have them walk away feeling like they learned something, but only by glossing over or misrepresenting critical details. You’d basically just be lying to them.

'It's the study how the particles that make atoms interact... it's fiendishly complicated'

Re: New sphere-packing record stems from an unexpected source

#56

Post by wasabi991011 »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #51
clickety_clack wrote: post #7

I have trouble explaining to my parents how my job is a real thing. I can only imagine trying to explain ‘I study shapes, but only ones that don’t jut inwards’.

I have my own micro business where I make equipment for high energy physics machines. I have yet to figure out a way to tell people what my business is in a way that is even slightly accessible. Everything about it is so esoteric and multiple steps removed from regular life. It's not necessarily complex, it just contains a ton of details that the average person has no familiar contact with, and don't really have ever…

Isn't "I have my own micro business where I make equipment for high energy physics machines" a good description already?

Re: New sphere-packing record stems from an unexpected source

#57

Post by xorcist »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #51
clickety_clack wrote: post #7

I have trouble explaining to my parents how my job is a real thing. I can only imagine trying to explain ‘I study shapes, but only ones that don’t jut inwards’.

I have my own micro business where I make equipment for high energy physics machines. I have yet to figure out a way to tell people what my business is in a way that is even slightly accessible. Everything about it is so esoteric and multiple steps removed from regular life. It's not necessarily complex, it just contains a ton of details that the average person has no familiar contact with, and don't really have ever…

> I make equipment for high energy physics machines

> I have yet to figure out a way to tell people what my business is in a way that is even slightly accessible.

You ... just did? In a remarkable short, concise, and very accessible way. I can ask as many follow up questions as I want and we might even have an engaging conversation. Sounds interesting!

Re: New sphere-packing record stems from an unexpected source

#58

Post by xorcist »

dkarl wrote: post #12
clickety_clack wrote: post #7

I have trouble explaining to my parents how my job is a real thing. I can only imagine trying to explain ‘I study shapes, but only ones that don’t jut inwards’.

I've found it's best to explain my job using unintelligible jargon. There are three choices, really: You can give a quick explanation in terms they understand, which makes your job sound easy and makes them wonder how anybody gets paid to do it. You can explain what you do and why it's important in terms they understand, but it'll take so long they'll get bored and wish they hadn't asked. Or you can give a quick expl…

> You can give a quick explanation in terms they understand, which makes your job sound easy

This is always the right answer. It is the only answer that respects the listener and contains a seed to further conversation.

Re: New sphere-packing record stems from an unexpected source

#59

Post by pcthrowaway »

imoreno wrote: post #44
dkarl wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found it's best to explain my job using unintelligible jargon. There are three choices, really: You can give a quick explanation in terms they understand, which makes your job sound easy and makes them wonder how anybody gets paid to do it. You can explain what you do and why it's important in terms they understand, but it'll take so long they'll get bored and wish they hadn't asked. Or you can give a quick expl…

>You can give a quick explanation in terms they understand, which makes your job sound easy and makes them wonder how anybody gets paid to do it. What is the problem with this? Most jobs, when simplified, sound like "anybody can do it". I think it's generally understood among adults who have been in the workforce that, no, in fact anybody cannot do it.

There is no problem with it, but I assume there are many people who will look upon you favourably if they think you do a highly skilled job. While many of us may not care to impress those people, there are certainly those who do (possibly people with similar attitudes who care more about validation from people who think like them)

A somewhat ungenerous characterization of the attitude may be something like the Rocket Scientist vs Brain Surgeon sketch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THNPmhBl-8I

But we should also acknowledge that there's an entire culture built around valuing people and their time relative to one's perception of their "importance", that this culture can influence one's earning potential and acquisition of material possessions, and that many people do care about things like "seeming important" or moving upwards in this hierarchy as a result.

Re: New sphere-packing record stems from an unexpected source

#60

Post by jvanderbot »

dkarl wrote: post #12
clickety_clack wrote: post #7

I have trouble explaining to my parents how my job is a real thing. I can only imagine trying to explain ‘I study shapes, but only ones that don’t jut inwards’.

I've found it's best to explain my job using unintelligible jargon. There are three choices, really: You can give a quick explanation in terms they understand, which makes your job sound easy and makes them wonder how anybody gets paid to do it. You can explain what you do and why it's important in terms they understand, but it'll take so long they'll get bored and wish they hadn't asked. Or you can give a quick expl…

I don't see what's hard about threading the needle, or maybe I'm completely lacking in EQ

"I'm a mathematician, I study how shapes fit together, which surprisingly, is being used for new methods of secure communication by so and so university, but I just love the math"

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