08/15/08 PHD comic: 'What you know vs How much you know about it'

[Greg Bernhardt]

Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd081508s.gif title: "What you know vs How much you know about it" - originally published 8/15/2008 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE! (http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php)




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[Gokul43201]

From Murphy's Laws, Chapter: Experts

Weber's Definition : An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.

[Doc Al]

Hilarious. This is getting posted on my office door. (Maybe people will stop bothering me.)

[CompuChip]

Gokul, I remember having heard your quote, but somewhere else.
But it's a nice comic nonetheless. Currently, I'm nicely in the center of the graph... I think I'll stay there for a while :)

[BobG]

Gokul, I remember having heard your quote, but somewhere else.
But it's a nice comic nonetheless. Currently, I'm nicely in the center of the graph... I think I'll stay there for a while :)

I've heard that,too.

[Moonbear]

Pretty funny. One of our faculty getting ready to retire is fond of saying his goals for the year are to do nothing...well. :biggrin: Seems to fit pretty well with that chart. :rofl:

[LightbulbSun]

Blah, lame. I don't approve of this chart. It's saying ignorance is ok.

[humanino]

Blah, lame. I don't approve of this chart. It's saying ignorance is ok.It's not. One's awareness of her/his own ignorance grows with knowledge anyway. This graph contains quite a bit of insight.

[LightbulbSun]

It's not. One's awareness of her/his own ignorance grows with knowledge anyway. This graph contains quite a bit of insight.

Saying that increasing your knowledge has a direct relationship with knowing less is approving of ignorance. I understand it can be interpreted as you are more aware of knowing there is much more to discover and therefore you realize you know less than what you previously thought, but it can also be interpreted as approving of perpetual and willful ignorance.

[Doc Al]

Lighten up. It's a joke!

[LightbulbSun]

Lighten up. It's a joke!

I understand it's a joke, but people let their guard down with comedy. Too often people reaffirm their beliefs through comedy.

[humanino]

I understand it's a joke, but people let their guard down with comedy. Too often people reaffirm their beliefs through comedy.The joke is directed to people who have devoted their life to knowledge. By the time you have become a world expert in your field, maybe a field you have created, you deserve to be ironical about the time you spent deepening your understanding of a problem nobody else really cares about.

[Doc Al]

I understand it's a joke, but people let their guard down with comedy. Too often people reaffirm their beliefs through comedy.
So you seriously think that folks with PhDs are anti-knowledge?

[Math Is Hard]

Saying that increasing your knowledge has a direct relationship with knowing less is approving of ignorance. I understand it can be interpreted as you are more aware of knowing there is much more to discover and therefore you realize you know less than what you previously thought, but it can also be interpreted as approving of perpetual and willful ignorance.

mmm...no. You missed the joke.

[LightbulbSun]

The joke is directed to people who have devoted their life to knowledge.

And this is a problem how?

By the time you have become a world expert in your field, maybe a field you have created, you deserve to be ironical about the time you spent deepening your understanding of a problem nobody else really cares about.

People don't care about a lot of stuff because they much rather be ignorant. This doesn't make time devoted to a particular subject wasteful.

[LightbulbSun]

So you seriously think that folks with PhDs are anti-knowledge?

No? I'm saying that this comic can be looked at as an appeal to ignorance. Its message isn't clear enough.

[humanino]

And this is a problem how?This is not a problem to me at all. I found the joke funny. It seems to be a problem to you.
People don't care about a lot of stuff because they much rather be ignorant. This doesn't make time devoted to a particular subject wasteful.You will notice that I said "once one has become a world expert, one deserves the right to be ironical about it" which implies that the person who her/him-self spent all this time (so certainly does not consider it a waste) has the right to have humor from the perspective of what she/he has accomplished compared to the initial hopes. At some point one looks back to the graduate student years, when one thought to know everything, and now can really come to the conclusion "yes, I can say I know too much in this field" :rolleyes: <---- JOKE.

No? I'm saying that this comic can be looked at as an appeal to ignorance. Its message isn't clear enough.The message is not clear to you only.

[LightbulbSun]

This is not a problem to me at all. I found the joke funny. It seems to be a problem to you.


It's a problem to me because I've seen far too many people reaffirm their crappy beliefs through comedy. See Bill Hicks or George Carlin for prime examples of this. I doubt this comic will get as high of a following, but what's with a comic on PhD people? I don't understand the premise of it. Great, we get it, just because you have a title doesn't mean you're a genius, but it increases the likelihood.

I'm sorry if I sound bitter, but I just prefer my comedy to be a little more original than this comic strip.

[cristo]

I doubt this comic will get as high of a following, but what's with a comic on PhD people? I don't understand the premise of it.

Well, this is probably the reason you appear to take so much offence to it. PhD comics is popular for the simple reason that if you are, or were, a grad student, you will be able to associate with most of the themes. But, it's important to remember that it is a joke. If you don't find it funny, then fine, but there's no need to ***** about something so petty.

[Chemikaze]

It's a problem to me because I've seen far too many people reaffirm their crappy beliefs through comedy. See Bill Hicks or George Carlin for prime examples of this. I doubt this comic will get as high of a following, but what's with a comic on PhD people? I don't understand the premise of it. Great, we get it, just because you have a title doesn't mean you're a genius, but it increases the likelihood.

I'm sorry if I sound bitter, but I just prefer my comedy to be a little more original than this comic strip.

That's just it. Comedic themes are often recycled.

As one goes through the PhD process, one should realise that one doesn't know much at all by the end of it. There's a lot of information out there and with specialisation in one narrow field, it should teach you one thing. You are not all knowing. There's a subtle irony in the comic strip that you appear to have missed.

[Moonbear]

I doubt this comic will get as high of a following, but what's with a comic on PhD people?

It's intended audience are grad students and those with PhDs. If you don't find them funny, don't read them. I think they're hilarious. Perhaps you haven't gotten far enough in your education yet to understand the jokes...come back when you're a few years into grad school. :wink:

[tribdog]

It's intended audience are grad students and those with PhDs. If you don't find them funny, don't read them. I think they're hilarious. Perhaps you haven't gotten far enough in your education yet to understand the jokes...come back when you're a few years into grad school. :wink:

Don't invite him back.

[jimmysnyder]

Never mind.

[Math Is Hard]

My studies have gone like this over the summer:

Bias
Bias X
Bias X in Situation Y
Effects of Z on Bias X in Situation Y
Effects of one type of Z on Bias X in Situation Y

Is there some equilibrium point where the title of my paper will be as long as the body?