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Terry Tao's generals (2012)

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Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#91

Post by pasc1878 »

thsksbd wrote: post #51
NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep making this mistake. I almost asked "why philosophy, didn't he study physics?" That does make me wonder: why DOES the qualification/position/status name mention only philosophy?

PhD is a license to teach (i.e. doctor) philosophy. Specifically, in "science" fields, natural philosophy. Natural philosophy was the original (and i think better) name for science, especially physics. It was understood to be an important subbranch of philosophy. I think its better name because it elucidates an important epistemological difference: science is a method, not knowledge. I learn science when I learn abou…

Why specifically in science.

PhD is the degree you usually get at that level for English, Classics, Economics, Histrory etc..

Some Universities use DPhil (Oxford) for all these but I know of no other degree at that level except for those two (MD is effectively lower and DSc is usually some form of honourary degree and I am not certain what LLD is)

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#92

Post by lordnacho »

svat wrote: post #41
fiforpg wrote: post #18

My first distracted thought upon reading this title on HN: cool, Terry Tao is finally getting his own army! Jokes aside, Tao also has a nice write-up in AMS Notices on this experience and how it influenced his career: https://www.ams.org/notices/202007/rnoti-p1007.pdf

That AMS article ("A Close Call: How a Near Failure Propelled Me to Succeed") is great and sobering. I am sure it has helped some people, by showing that even Terence Tao cannot succeed without working hard. > this was the first time I had performed poorly on an exam that I was genuinely interested in performing well in. But it served as an important wake-up call and a turning point in my career. I began to take my c…

Fascinating. I guess everyone has had that experience of "hey how does that guy never f*ck up his exams?". To an extent I was that guy in high school. In uni I wasn't, but I knew people who seemingly always got top marks. I guess everyone hits a wall at some point.

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#93

Post by defrost »

zem wrote: post #82
thsksbd wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PhD is a license to teach (i.e. doctor) philosophy. Specifically, in "science" fields, natural philosophy. Natural philosophy was the original (and i think better) name for science, especially physics. It was understood to be an important subbranch of philosophy. I think its better name because it elucidates an important epistemological difference: science is a method, not knowledge. I learn science when I learn abou…

> Im not learning science when I learn about evolution; rather Im learning a theory, very likely to be true, that is almost impossible to put under scrutiny using the scientific method. the very definition of a "theory" in the scientific sense of the word (e.g. "theory of evolution") includes the ability to test it using the scientific method. the wikipedia page goes into great detail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S…

Indeed.

Jumping to specifics, Evolution Theory is relatively easy to demonstrate on short time scales of under a year with fruit flies, and can also be demonstrated on longer timescales of five, ten, thirty years given patience .. with ongoing field observations of some two centuries now in various locations.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/fruit-flies-evolv...

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#94

Post by auggierose »

irrational wrote: post #56
thsksbd wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PhD is a license to teach (i.e. doctor) philosophy. Specifically, in "science" fields, natural philosophy. Natural philosophy was the original (and i think better) name for science, especially physics. It was understood to be an important subbranch of philosophy. I think its better name because it elucidates an important epistemological difference: science is a method, not knowledge. I learn science when I learn abou…

Apparently it is also a license for your brother in law to brag about having a PhD in economics, despite not being able to hold a job for more than 2 years and currently working as a manager at a pest control company after being laid off from his last job.

This is hilarious. Whereas I have to say, when holding a job means doing what other people want you to do, well, which person of high intelligence would be interested in that?

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#95

Post by jvvw »

liamwire wrote: post #28
NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep making this mistake. I almost asked "why philosophy, didn't he study physics?" That does make me wonder: why DOES the qualification/position/status name mention only philosophy?

Partially, it’s tradition at this point, but it’s also worth pointing out that a PhD isn’t the only doctorate, see e.g. DBA, EdD, JD, MD, etc.

And some universities still award a DPhil rather than a PhD (in the UK I believe Oxford and Sussex do - I have an Oxford DPhil and I always have the very mild quandary of whether to call it a PhD or DPhil - everybody knows what the former is and it is equivalent, but I feel like I am being inaccurate if I call it that!)

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#97

Post by 2-718-281-828 »

GTP wrote: post #90
tester756 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Assume that there are three full professors testing you, and they have an average of 20 years each of post-graduate experience. That's 60 years of reading who cares? 10 juniors with year of experience don't make it even close to decade of experience

Yes, what you're pointing out is that it doesn't scale linearly. But the point still stands.

that's just guessing. the point could also sit. what you mean to say is that it is still there. how is not relevant to your argument.

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#98

Post by denton-scratch »

NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #19
OldGuyInTheClub wrote: post #14

Thought this Oppenheimer anecdote may amuse the HN contingent. "Oppenheimer obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in March 1927 at age 23, supervised by Max Born.[28][29] After the oral exam, James Franck, the professor administering, reportedly said, "I'm glad that's over. He was on the point of questioning me."[30] " Franck had won the Nobel two years earlier. Sources: [Refs] quoted directly from Wikipedia artic…

I keep making this mistake. I almost asked "why philosophy, didn't he study physics?" That does make me wonder: why DOES the qualification/position/status name mention only philosophy?

He took the doctorate degree in Europe. He gained a PhD in Physics.

"Doctor of Philosophy" (PhD): a doctorate in just about any subject except law or medicine.

"Doctor of Letters" (D.Lit.): a doctorate in Law.

"Doctor of Medicine" (D.Med.): a doctorate in medicine.

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#99

Post by [deleted] »

turndown wrote: post #63
OldGuyInTheClub wrote: post #14

Thought this Oppenheimer anecdote may amuse the HN contingent. "Oppenheimer obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in March 1927 at age 23, supervised by Max Born.[28][29] After the oral exam, James Franck, the professor administering, reportedly said, "I'm glad that's over. He was on the point of questioning me."[30] " Franck had won the Nobel two years earlier. Sources: [Refs] quoted directly from Wikipedia artic…

My favorite? When Von Neumann(an Austrian aristocrat) walked into his oral exam, Hilbert asked another of the admistrators who his tailor was.

[deleted]

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#100

Post by supernova87a »

> Stein then asked me what other boundedness theorems I knew. I couldn't think of any concrete ones off hand, but I mumbled about a convolution operator being bounded if its Fourier transform was bounded and had some smoothness condition, but I couldn't recall any details.

You and me both, buddy!

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