Can I call myself a physicist yet?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the question of when an individual can rightfully call themselves a physicist, exploring various perspectives on qualifications, professional identity, and societal perceptions. Participants share their educational backgrounds, experiences in academia, and differing opinions on the significance of titles in the field of physics.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that a PhD is necessary to call oneself a physicist, while others argue that being a graduate student or working in related fields may suffice.
  • One participant expresses that they would only consider themselves a physicist if they were employed in a research capacity at a national lab.
  • Another participant mentions the importance of context in defining what a physicist is, noting that titles can vary in meaning depending on the audience.
  • Several participants share personal anecdotes about their experiences and feelings regarding their identities as physicists or related roles, including teaching and research assistant positions.
  • There is a humorous exchange about the social implications of having a PhD, including a light-hearted comment about using the title for restaurant reservations.
  • One participant critiques the thread as self-serving, questioning the motivations behind discussing personal achievements in the context of calling oneself a physicist.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the criteria for calling oneself a physicist, with multiple competing views presented throughout the discussion.

Contextual Notes

Participants express varying definitions of what constitutes a physicist, highlighting the influence of academic status, job titles, and personal beliefs on their self-identification. There are also references to the informal nature of titles in different professional contexts.

  • #121
humanino said:
Degrees, titles, even academic positions have little to do with being a physicist, a musician, a painter, a hunter, a pilot, a fireman, a thief or a murderer. A piece of paper does not change your personality. If you are passionate for something and live every day with this passion, who cares what other people call you ?

The profession does not honor the man, it is the man who honors the profession.
(Victor Hugo, poorly translated)

You already have a PhD, or I'd give you one too.
 
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  • #122
jarednjames said:
I find it strange pheonix that under your view of this, you would consider a person who learns to pass the exams to get a degree yet retains no knowledge/skills, to be an engineer, but would take a person who is highly skilled and holds a huge knowledge of engineering principles and cast them aside as a nothing simply because they have no degree.

Straw man.
 
  • #123
Pengwuino said:
Straw man.

What? Can't say I understand.
 
  • #124
jarednjames said:
What? Can't say I understand.

Straw man argument.
 
  • #125
Pengwuino said:
Straw man argument.

Cardboard box.
 
  • #126
In what sense? He says he only accepts an engineer is a person with an engineering degree. And has stated himself, no matter what a person knows about engineering, no matter how good they are at an engineering job, if they don't have a degree to him they are not an engineer.

To be the straw man argument I would have had to state this and then attack it, and then claim his original statement is false because of my presented argument of my statement. Whereas Pheonix has actually stated he only accepts a person with a degree as an engineer and that anyone without is not one.
 
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  • #127
jarednjames said:
I suggest you look up what a straw man argument is defined as like I just have.

What?

Furthermore, you claim someone with a degree only knows how to take exams and knows no real knowledge and someone whos been in the industry for a long time always has a wealth of knowledge and understanding. It's silly.
 
  • #128
Thank you Cyrus I just googled to find what a Cardboard Box argument is! Feel like a right plonker now.
 
  • #129
Pengwuino said:
What?

Furthermore, you claim someone with a degree only knows how to take exams and knows no real knowledge and someone whos been in the industry for a long time always has a wealth of knowledge and understanding. It's silly.

I didn't claim anything of the sort. I simply pointed out that some people who do the degree are like that. At NO POINT did I say ALL people who do degrees simply learn to pass exams. Please do not take posts out of context like that, in my book you are seriously discredited because of it.
 
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  • #130
I'm thick so I'm a thicksisist.
 
  • #131
I can't believe I sat and read all of this. What a waste of time.
 
  • #132
What else can you do when you are enduser ?
 
  • #133
Stop this absurd thread. Flatmaster checked out at post 9. NINE! He began with a fairly benign question, and it doesn't appear that an answer either way was going to define anything or anybody, yet it devolved into a mini war, a flame-p!$$!ng contest. I appreciate our "edgy" (dammit, is there another word?) members and the humor they bring, but...

what is this, Youtube?
 
  • #134
Locked pending moderation. :rolleyes:
 

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