attn: overly educated nerds

[RedRose]

I have a PhD in theoretical physics. It's pretty useful. For example, one day I overheard a discussion between two women, with one of them stumped on a math problem her kid got in primary school. They had to find out how many students and how many benches are present in a classroom if you know how many benches remain empty when you distribute students in them in certain ways. The fact that I managed to explain the solution to her feels like one of the bigger achievements of my life so far.

That's nice! I often feel like I don't use the maths I learned at school... Actually apart from the languages I mentioned above, I definitely don't use many things in my every day life.

[Oniya]

I have a PhD in theoretical physics. It's pretty useful. For example, one day I overheard a discussion between two women, with one of them stumped on a math problem her kid got in primary school. They had to find out how many students and how many benches are present in a classroom if you know how many benches remain empty when you distribute students in them in certain ways. The fact that I managed to explain the solution to her feels like one of the bigger achievements of my life so far.

That sounds like one of those Martin Gardner puzzles.

[stormwyrm]

Well, I graduated with a degree in computer engineering and might have turned into a hardware geek, and I suppose I still remember enough to be able to design circuits and glue logic if it came down to it, but after a year-long project designing a microcontroller-based embedded system I couldn't find more hardware jobs and had to go deeper into software. Not that I wasn't already eyeball-deep in it before, having programmed my first computer in 1985 at the age of nine from scraps of photocopied C-64 reference manuals...

Before I got too busy I would study mathematics and physics on my own, and actually learned enough of group theory and Galois theory from a few books I managed to find, which really wasn't too hard given the background in linear algebra and discrete mathematics that I received with my degree. The heavy abstraction and generality in modern mathematics that people like Emil Artin and those guys who call themselves Nicolas Bourbaki pioneered was rather off-putting at first, but after a while you get used to it... If I have time again and find good enough books I'd try to swim into algebraic geometry. I also have an abiding interest in modern physics and have tried to get into quantum field theory but haven't found enough foundational books to bridge my knowledge of non-relativistic quantum mechanics from school to at least quantum electrodynamics... I wouldn't even know where to begin with general relativity though.

[midnightblack]

stormwyrm,

In my opinion, Einstein's own "The Meaning of Relativity" remains to this day the best read if you want to educate yourself on the subject (then again, any of his original papers are a beautiful example of what it means to have a clear head and deep insight into the nature of things). I find that the second volume of Landau's series on theoretical physics, dealing with relativity theory and electrodynamics in vacuum, is the clearest book of the course and another pretty simple & straightforward exposition of the topic.

The clearest book that I know of regarding qed is that containing Gribov's lectures. It was assembled by a collective of his former students and I do not think it was ever formally published, but it should be floating around on the Internet.

[Inkidu]

Again, this thread is too smart for me.

[Pumpkin Seeds]

Meh, my head blew up awhile ago.

[HannibalBarca]

Again, this thread is too smart for me.

Nah, knowledge for knowledge's sake is a good thing.  The more we know, the less we know kind of thing.  Humility is good, especially for those of us who have kept our noses in books for most of our life.  There are many kinds of intelligences.  None of us know everything.  I tend to prefer breadth of knowledge to depth of knowledge.  I like knowing a large variety of subjects.  I'm only deep in history, and maybe music.  I love science, but I don't have the depth of background to understand it too deeply.  I appreciate quantum mechanics, reading about chaos theory or string theory...but I stopped taking math in high school after trigonometry.  I can't fully grasp much of theoretical physics without that math knowledge and background, but I still appreciate what people like Brian Green and Stephen Hawking are able to translate for me.

For me, it's all about being a well-rounded person.

[RedRose]

Nah, knowledge for knowledge's sake is a good thing. 

For me, its all about being a well-rounded person.

100%

[CopperLily]

Lily is technically Professor Lily, and works on health policy related stuff. Mostly about keeping sick people from getting sicker because they're in hospitals.

[RedRose]

That's a useful thing to do!

I have taught.

I love the concept but not the practice  XD

[EloquentWizard]

While I don't consider myself highly educated, I did post just to show that this site has quite a diverse population. Unlike most, literature is my weakest subject. Rather, I just got my M.S. in robotics and am going to be working on autonomous driving. However, I do love reading fantasy novels and have an insatiable lust for good stories. I love my imagination, which is fueled both by textbooks and novels.

[Beautiful Mystery]

I have always poked my head in here, just reading what others have studied. However, I didn't want to post in here until it was official. So I just graduated with my BS in Biochemistry and I am getting a BS in Psychology this summer. I am deciding if I want to go on with a Ph.D. program or if I just keep working.

It feels good to finally post in here. :P

[VioletPanda]

I just graduated with a BA in History and I feel like I've wasted the past few years of my life. Does that count?

[Beautiful Mystery]

I just graduated with a BA in History and I feel like I've wasted the past few years of my life. Does that count?

Why do you think it is a waste?

To be honest, I see a lot of jobs that just require a 4-year degree. Doesn't matter what. Now, obviously you cannot go be a doctor with a history degree (unless you are teaching the history of medicine...) but there are still a fair amount of jobs out there that just want a 4-year degree. Having a degree opens you up to many more jobs than if you only hold a high school diploma.

I have heard people say that college isn't worth the money but I believe having a degree isn't a waste but that is just me...

[VioletPanda]

Why do you think it is a waste?

To be honest, I see a lot of jobs that just require a 4-year degree. Doesn't matter what. Now, obviously you cannot go be a doctor with a history degree (unless you are teaching the history of medicine...) but there are still a fair amount of jobs out there that just want a 4-year degree. Having a degree opens you up to many more jobs than if you only hold a high school diploma.

I have heard people say that college isn't worth the money but I believe having a degree isn't a waste but that is just me...

I recently relocated to a new state and didn't realize the job opportunities were...shall we say less that stellar for white collar work.

[Inkidu]

Why do you think it is a waste?

To be honest, I see a lot of jobs that just require a 4-year degree. Doesn't matter what. Now, obviously you cannot go be a doctor with a history degree (unless you are teaching the history of medicine...) but there are still a fair amount of jobs out there that just want a 4-year degree. Having a degree opens you up to many more jobs than if you only hold a high school diploma.

I have heard people say that college isn't worth the money but I believe having a degree isn't a waste but that is just me...

When the only job you can get is Walmart, you tend to think of it as a big old waste of time. :(

It's utterly required for some thing on paper, but has turned out to be useless in a practical sense. I honestly feel like mailing the thing back.

[yobo]

I have a master degree in history, as well as some minor ones in economics and educational science. Can't say I've used my degree in history all that much, but it has proven handy. Waiting to hear back from a job interview where I will be able to really use my degrees should I get the job, so fingers crossed.

Also, congrats to those who have just graduated. :-)

[VioletPanda]

When the only job you can get is Walmart, you tend to think of it as a big old waste of time. :(

It's utterly required for some thing on paper, but has turned out to be useless in a practical sense. I honestly feel like mailing the thing back.

+1000 Because everything around here is transportation, I'm probably back to fast food after spending 50, 000 on 'bettering myself'. So you can see why I'm a tad bitter and cynical.

[RedRose]

It's such a French thing to require a diploma/degree, even for a job that won't use it - or to choose the candidate with the degree in that case.

[Rhadiance]

Started three years ago...still have four to go before I even graduate bachelor's.  ???

[RedRose]

Stay strong, you can do it! I almost gave up on my MA, especially because I was feeling like I would never finish up my thesis. But I'm so happy I stuck through and even published the thing!

[Life in Color]

I'm currently working on my MS in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance.

*nerd glasses*

I have a BA in Cultural and Political Studies and a BA in English Literature.

Yay liberal arts!

I love to academia the hell out of comic books and video games and nerd culture in general. <3

[clonkertink]

I love to academia the hell out of comic books and video games and nerd culture in general. <3

This is basically what my second year Western Thought class was. Each week a different student would write a presentation and a paper on one of the thinkers we were studying, usually applying it to some kind of pop-culture phenomenon.

Mine was on Nietzsche and "The Killing Joke". I had a whole lot of fun with that.

[Frelance]

knowledge for knowledge's sake is a good thing.

I don't have any degrees, but my education consists on listening to The Great Courses lectures, podcasts, or audio books while I work an eight hour shift at a factory. That is just to keep myself from going insane at work. Currently I am listening to Lost Worlds of South America at work then pulling out my e reader and reading 1491: New revelations of the Americas before Columbus. Interesting read and listen that give some many ideas for settings that could be used in stories on E.

While never really being books smart I am have always been the kind of person to know tons one scattered information from multiple sources. Normally my knowledge is just from the media I take in within the last year I am started looking into Bio hacking and have gotten two NFC chips implanted. One in my right hand and another in my left arm just behind the wrist. Looking to implant a rare earth magnetic (sealed in a medical great bio-neutral coating.) into a finger or two soon.

My interests vary depending on the fiction media I am consuming or the games I am playing. A recurring theme that keeps catching my interest in Alternate history. One of my favorites is what if the vikings had set up a permanent colony in North America and if they had kept trading with Europe could that have spread European disease to North America. To that end would being hit by the disease sooner have given the people already living here time to repopulate before Europeans started to trade with them in large numbers.

The newest one to catch my interest is what if the Chinese had not stopped sending out treasure fleets in the Fifteenth century and had instead become a naval power in East Asia and the India ocean. How would that have affected events when the Portuguese arrived in India only to see a Chinese ship that could carry multiple of their own ships in its holds easily.

Alright I am done ranting. I really ended reading through this tread its full of some many interesting people and topics!

[Magicaddict]

Got my PhD in Inorganic Chemistry just as the European credit crunch hit in late 2007.  Suddenly, attaching pendant DNA bases to siloxane chains wasn't quite exciting a prospect, particularly as the research demonstrated that it was possible, but in the current guise (due to excessive cross-linking) had about as much commerical use as chocolate catflap in the pope's inflatable elephant house.  I still work in the sciences, but never really made it back into academic research after that.