[Written a few hours ago on a plane. Later uploaded for your consumption.]
So I’m continuing my thoughts about plans for the Summer. You probably ought to read part I first. This post is also a bit of a ramble. I was thinking a bit more about Spring/Summer travel, you see. There’s a thing I ought to do one of these days which nobody in the field seems to ever do as a Summer travel option:
Why not go back to school?
Students and young postdocs in my field often go to long schools where there are lecture courses in various aspects of a particular topic or selections of topics. Somehow, faculty don’t seem to go to these, and I don’t know why (unless they are lecturing part of the school and sit in on some other lectures, which I’ve done, and it’s always instructive). It is as though there’s some sort of stigma – perhaps we are all supposed to pretend that we know all that stuff and so can’t be seen sitting in a classroom taking notes. But these lecture courses -when done right- are a perfect combination of the basic techniques and the most contemporary results, which can be rare material, and I know of nobody in the field who can honestly claim to be fully in command of all the progress that has been made in even a relatively small subset of topics in our field. What a great way to learn new things, and find out what’s exciting and interesting, in a non-conference setting (with all the spin and shine that often comes with that).
Also, the best thing is that as a “mature student”, one is in the position of actually being able to appreciate more how all the topics fit together, what details might be most important, etc., – something that is definitely not true when one is a student learning the stuff for the first or even second or third time. Huh.
Never being overly shy to admit my ignorance about vast areas of knowledge, I think it would be just *great* to go to a month-long school like TASI or Les Houches. I can’t believe I’ve never thought of it before. Practical matters could be easily arranged. If it is going to place undue strain on the school’s administrative resources, one can just make arrangements oneself. Stay in a nearby Motel 6 or Extended Stay hotel if one needs to. The lecture space is all one really wants access to and these are rarely actually full. One can imagine just making one’s own arrangements to stay in the area, and then ask the permission of the organizers to sit in, paying a part of the registration fee if they wish you too. I should do it one day. (At this point someone will write in and tell me that everybody’s been doing it for years and I just missed it.)
Yes, the juicy idea of registering as a student and going in disguise occurred to me too, but it just won’t work, for several reasons. I’d be too easily recognized, for a start: Let’s be realistic here. Even if I did a great job with (let’s say) a beard, mustache, fake accent, and contact lenses, given what usually happens with mistaken identity among the three or four totally different-looking men of African decent in this field, people might just assume that I was me anyway, if you see what I mean.
The other danger is that in such circumstances, one might be in the awkward situation of being in or overhearing a conversation about oneself. For the record: No, I don’t assume that people talk about me even slightly, but if you write a book introducing a subject that might be being lectured about at that school, as I have (D-branes), or if you write a blog that some people at the school are likely to occasionally read (uh, that would be this one – Asymptotia – in case you’re confused) it does not seem unlikely that something one said or wrote might come up in conversation. I can just see it now:
- Real student #1: “Did you see that there was a missing factor of two on page 245 in equation 9.86 of D-Branes? Dude, it screws up the whole normalization”.
- Real student #2: “Yeah. Sucks. Why does Johnson spend all that time blogging about random crap instead of fixing some of those typos?”
- Real student #3: “Huh? He still blogs? I though he quit Cosmic Variance.”
- Nearby student, sporting a remarkable amount of poorly attached facial hair and with hat pulled down over eyes, resulting in everyone shunning him for the entire school: “Aaaaargghh!!”
So you see why the disguise idea won’t work.
Ok, I’ve interrupted myself so many times now I don’t even remember what I was saying, so I’ll break off here, and use the rest of the flight to think about a physics problem I’m working on. (In other news, this United flight is still using Canada Dry ginger ale, and so maybe I was -thank goodness- wrong in thinking the other day that they’d converted to the dreadful Schweppes.)
-cvj
Pingback: 575424 Blog Verification
Keep us in mind when you make your summer plans Clifford, a long visit over the summer may be fun for all involved.
I agree with you about the schools, my secret agenda in organizing summer schools is learning all this stuff :-). Attending short schools in other areas is also fun, I went to one-week school on quantum computing once and had great time, very invigorating immersing yourself in something new and unfamiliar.
Hi,
It works like any field of scientific research has done. We all keep abreast of the big picture, but I’m talking about details right down to the bedrock. Nobody (well, maybe except for Ed?) knows all the ins and outs of every nook and cranny… and even if they did for an instant, the fact that there are hundreds of people waking up every day and discovering more results makes it only a temporary affair.
This is true in any field.
This is why people have conferences to announce and discuss new results, etc. But at conferences, it’s often only at a broad level, and over a wide range of topics. Schools gather experts in specific topics, under a theme, and they often give long pedagogical lectures on the new stuff and how it fits in context with the old stuff. Or they used to when I was a lad. They are attended mostly by the younger set who perhaps don’t fully appreciate all that they’re seeing, since they’re new to the field. That’s sort of funny**. Perhaps more old folks should go to school…
-cvj
**P.S. Of course, it is great that young people who are seeing the material for the first time see it like this too…. this allows them to see the whole thing without prejudice -their ignorance on many details can be a plus- and make connections that need to new results. This is (and has been, and will continue to be) of huge value to the field…
“…nobody in the field who can honestly claim to be fully in command of all the progress that has been made in even a relatively small subset of topics…”
I find this intriguing. How does String Theory research work then? Is it like a huge amoeba, pushing outwards into different directions, the space being pushed into being the various discoveries and the edge of the beastie being the vigorous researchers pulling parts of the interior with them? A part of edge drags its nearest neighbours, which in turn drags its own nearest neighbours. An exciting discovery is somehow louder and affects more edge than a lesser one, so the whole edifice moves along, enlarging into math space?
Probably not, but how does anyone know what to do next?
Other than that, I love the idea of the disguised professor at school. Surely a phoney French accent would help here! “Oh no, a bombe”, lol.