• Engywook@lemmy.zip
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    1 month ago

    Maybe they’re trying to say that science (at least, Phys) without advanced calculus is “just” outreach or popularization. And they’re right, even if your sensibility can’t accept it.

    • TheOakTree@lemmy.zip
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      1 month ago

      Does an F1 driver need to understand and utilize advanced calculus on the track to do well? I feel that concepts like grip/slip, aero, centripetal force, and weight transfer are intimately linked to an intuition for physics, even if they aren’t being understood at a calculus-requiring level by the driver.

      Yet, I would struggle to call that situation “outreach” or “popularizarion.” I would still consider the driver’s understanding of physics as tangential to science.

        • TheOakTree@lemmy.zip
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          1 month ago

          I know they’re not a scientist. But to say they have no grasp or interest in science would also be wrong, so I think the answer lies somewhere in the gray area, and not this black and white perspective presented in OP.

          You can be enthusiastic and have a simplified-but-robust understanding of some kinds of science, that doesn’t make you less of an enjoyer. But there are certainly people who only understand at a surface level, yet pretend to be immersed in the material and demand to be treated like experts.