Comments on: My Work Here is Done http://asymptotia.com/2007/11/09/my-work-here-is-done/ Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:31:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Aaron F. http://asymptotia.com/2007/11/09/my-work-here-is-done/#comment-88634 Aaron F. Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:55:32 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/11/09/my-work-here-is-done/#comment-88634 <i>I’m very tired of giving (and listening to) the standard string theory colloquium to a mixed audience where the speakers present a grand picture, don’t really explain much of the core physics, apparently appeal to magic here and there, and promise so much.</i> Amen to that! I'm a third-year undergrad in physics, and I've already heard The Cosmology Talk so many times that I could probably give it myself if I had to. I'd much prefer to hear a mixed-audience talk where, instead of giving a vague introduction to absolutely everything, the speaker supplies only the bare minimum background necessary to develop a specific, more-in-depth idea, and then concentrates on that idea for the rest of the presentation. For example, The Cosmology Talk includes an obligatory pie chart (just Google Image <i>universe pie chart</i>) describing the composition of the universe. A speaker presenting on the Dark Energy Survey, for example, could save a minute or two by subsequently ignoring dark matter and baryons completely (even though DES wouldn't be possible without those!), and spend the extra time on a more in-depth explanation of the dark energy equation of state. A speaker presenting on cluster finding could ignore dark energy (even though studying dark energy is a often the ultimate goal of cluster surveys!), and spend the extra time describing how astronomers determine redshifts. Et cetera. I’m very tired of giving (and listening to) the standard string theory colloquium to a mixed audience where the speakers present a grand picture, don’t really explain much of the core physics, apparently appeal to magic here and there, and promise so much.

Amen to that! I’m a third-year undergrad in physics, and I’ve already heard The Cosmology Talk so many times that I could probably give it myself if I had to. I’d much prefer to hear a mixed-audience talk where, instead of giving a vague introduction to absolutely everything, the speaker supplies only the bare minimum background necessary to develop a specific, more-in-depth idea, and then concentrates on that idea for the rest of the presentation.

For example, The Cosmology Talk includes an obligatory pie chart (just Google Image universe pie chart) describing the composition of the universe. A speaker presenting on the Dark Energy Survey, for example, could save a minute or two by subsequently ignoring dark matter and baryons completely (even though DES wouldn’t be possible without those!), and spend the extra time on a more in-depth explanation of the dark energy equation of state. A speaker presenting on cluster finding could ignore dark energy (even though studying dark energy is a often the ultimate goal of cluster surveys!), and spend the extra time describing how astronomers determine redshifts. Et cetera.

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