Would you rather be an influential mathematician/physicist or politican?

[gaussianblur]

Like would you rather be someone like einstein, witten, Newton or gauss or be a politician like Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Obama, etc.

 

[micromass]

I don't want to be influential. I just want to understand the world a little bit more.

 

[gaussianblur]

Good answer. I think too many physicists are opportunists.

 

[WannabeNewton]

Hmm...try and unravel the mind of god or waste time attacking another political party because the one I am affiliated is better...

 

[gaussianblur]

Politics is power though. Lobbyists bribing you with cash, the respectFactor.

 

[kcajrenreb]

Hmm...try and unravel the mind of god or waste time attacking another political party because the one I am affiliated is better...

Exactly my thoughts. I have always disliked politics, and I don't know enough about it to really have an opinion.

 

[gaussianblur]

You are all atheists, though, right? Republicans want to incorporate Jesus into the classroom. How does that make you feel?

 

[micromass]

I wouldn't mind being a politician though. That way I can take care that more money goes to education and research. I'd love to see a politician that would take care that every person has the same opportunities in life...

 

[gaussianblur]

I wouldn't mind being a politician though. That way I can take care that more money goes to education and research. I'd love to see a politician that would take care that every person has the same opportunities in life...

Heheheh, you might have forgot about this thing called POLITICAL POWER PRESSURE and 24/7 CABLE NEWS. :P

 

[micromass]

Heheheh, you might have forgot about this thing called POLITICAL POWER PRESSURE and 24/7 CABLE NEWS. :P

That's exactly why I'm not running

 

[chiro]

I don't want to be influential: I want everyone to think for themselves in a critical, analytic and constructive manner.

 

[Evo]

I just want money.

Oh, that would make me a politician, wouldn't it?

 

[kcajrenreb]

You are all atheists, though, right? Republicans want to incorporate Jesus into the classroom. How does that make you feel?

It doesn't matter if they want to, its not going to happen.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

To be Emperor of the World, that's all I ask.

 

[DoggerDan]

Tough question. Create something that people could use for either good or evil, depending on their particular bent, or influence people towards good or evil, depending on my particular bent.

 

[chiro]

I wouldn't mind being a politician though. That way I can take care that more money goes to education and research. I'd love to see a politician that would take care that every person has the same opportunities in life...

Typically, those are ousted out, slandered, ostracized, lied about, even assassinated.

 

[arildno]

I want to be a slave owner.
I will be good to my slaves, as long as they behave properly and are sufficiently deferential, and make my existence comfortable.

 

[Galron]

Physicist>mathematician>politician.

Politicians mostly start with the best of intentions but the system grinds them down or they become corrupt, there are few if any honest politicians.

I think you have to be fantastic at maths from the get go to really succeed there or just be very diligent. I suppose the same goes for physics but you can at least pick and chose the areas where the maths you are weak in are not so prevalent.

I want to be a slave owner.
I will be good to my slaves, as long as they behave properly and are sufficiently deferential, and make my existence comfortable.

That's a good aim to have with slaves. I would suggest you treat them fairly and harshly with a stick when they do bad. Having a personal footstool couldn't go amiss either, there's nothing like a man or woman's (let's not be sexist) back for comfortable repose.

 

[arildno]

Physicist>mathematician>politician.

Politicians mostly start with the best of intentions but the system grinds them down or they become corrupt, there are few if any honest politicians.

I think you have to be fantastic at maths from the get go to really succeed there or just be very diligent. I suppose the same goes for physics but you can at least pick and chose the areas where the maths you are weak in are not so prevalent.



That's a good aim to have with slaves. I would suggest you treat them fairly and harshly with a stick when they do bad. Having a personal footstool couldn't go amiss either, there's nothing like a man or woman's (let's not be sexist) back for comfortable repose.

What I find most annoying in my daily life is that grubby stuff lodging itself between my toes.
To keep my toes clean from that would require one full time slave, at least.

 

[Galron]

What I find most annoying in my daily life is that grubby stuff lodging itself between my toes.
To keep my toes clean from that would require one full time slave, at least.

I feel your pain.

Life is hard for the slave owner.

 

[daveyrocket]

Politics, definitely. You get a lot more chicks that way.

 

[arildno]

Politics, definitely. You get a lot more chicks that way.

Like..?
http://www.google.no/imgres?q=uglie...bnw=102&start=21&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:13,s:21

http://c3.yousaytoo.com/rss_temp_image/pics/43/38/74/5131343/original/remote_image20101124-28405-pvpyst-0.jpg [Broken]

http://c3.yousaytoo.com/rss_temp_image/pics/47/42/78/5131347/original/remote_image20101124-28405-1ic3869-0.jpg [Broken]

 

[daveyrocket]

hahaha no no, you don't date other politicians! You go for the interns, the secretaries, or you hire expensive prostitutes and hope that there are no federal authorities with wire taps around.

 

[Galron]

Politics, definitely. You get a lot more chicks that way.

Yeah but you have to give up so much. Your honour, integrity, what you think: what a pole of the electorate tells you they think, what your spin Doctors tell you to think and say so that you say it just right to appeal to the maximal number of voters. Your dress, the way you do your hair. Everything. Now don't get me wrong I'm sure there are some perks but politics requires a lot of giving your soul to your pundits and staff. It's also often an 18 hour day if you get anywhere near some influence. The workload is hell and you probably have very little time for the women/men.

hahaha no no, you don't date other politicians! You go for the interns, the secretaries, or you hire expensive prostitutes and hope that there are no federal authorities with wire taps around.

Quite assuming you have time. A prostitute is the most expedient way, because of course your wife/husband/partner will be too busy to service you, being as she or he is part of the spin package.

 

[daveyrocket]

Yeah but you have to give up so much. Your honour, integrity, what you think: what a pole of the electorate tells you they think, what your spin Doctors tell you to think and say so that you say it just right to appeal to the maximal number of voters. Your dress, the way you do your hair. Everything. Now don't get me wrong I'm sure there are some perks but politics requires a lot of giving your soul to your pundits and staff. It's also often an 18 hour day if you get anywhere near some influence. The workload is hell and you probably have very little time for the women/men.



Quite assuming you have time. A prostitute is the most expedient way, because of course your wife/husband/partner will be too busy to service you, being as she or he is part of the spin package.

Well, I don't really think time is a problem. Somehow politicians seem to be able to find the time to photograph their junk and send it to women online. And the stuff that hits the news is probably just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to politicians chasing tail.

It's not like being an influential physicist would leave you with a lot of time either. Looking around at the tenured theoretical physicists around here, I see a lot of them working a lot of hours. And looking at them certainly makes having the ability to completely let yourself go seem rather unappealing.

 

[Constantinos]

I think a politician can contribute much more to science than a scientist can. There is so much a genius scientist can do, but a politician can get the money to flow in science, and then there will be opportunity for many geniuses to flourish and develop their ideas.

Besides, the most pressing problems the world faces today are political in nature, not scientific. If for example one managed to wipe out poverty from India, then millions of people would have the potential to pursue their dreams and contribute positively to the world, and many of them would contribute to science.

I'd still not want to be a politician because I'd never enjoy it.

Knowledge of the natural sciences, mathematics and philosophy is much more valueable to me because it is useful, doesn't become easily obsolete, its closer to certainty and it is about a much greater part of the world than human affairs and of course it affects even them. It also helps to filter out junk political opinions, like not teaching Evolution to schools, or the superiority of X race to Y race.

Knowledge of politics is MUCH more useful, but becomes easily obsolete, is not at all certain (political ideologies for example) and is only about a much smaller part of the world.

 

[gaussianblur]

TO the last poster:

Philosophy is pseudoscience.

FACT. You can't BACT up philosophy with evidence, studies, etc.

I might get a lot of flack-flakes for this, but it's almost as bad as string theory!

 

[Constantinos]

Philosophy is not a science, as well as mathematics (in my view) and I'm not claiming that in my post.

Also if we take this definition for pseudoscience:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience" [Broken]

then I don't see how it's a pseudoscience either. As far as I know, mainstream philosophers don't claim to be doing science.

And philosophy isn't all that "bad". The scientific method comes from philosophy! Or the fact that we accept that the world is knowable and it can be known through experience (empiricism). How could a physicist proceed to do physics if he/she believed that we can't know anything of the world that exists outside our senses?

 

[Galron]

Philosophy is not a science, as well as mathematics (in my view) and I'm not claiming that in my post.

Also if we take this definition for pseudoscience:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience" [Broken]

then I don't see how it's a pseudoscience either. As far as I know, mainstream philosophers don't claim to be doing science.

And philosophy isn't all that "bad". The scientific method comes from philosophy! Or the fact that we accept that the world is knowable and it can be known through experience (empiricism). How could a physicist proceed to do physics if he believed that we can't know anything of the world that exists outside our senses?

Dude we're only messing about it's a harmless jappery. Maths is not science philosophy is not science, you will win no Nobel prize for either. It's cool.

Philosophy has always shaped our ability to reason about reasons: it is perhaps pivotal, sadly most Scientists never realize that logic and the way we think about thought matters little to thought. Way it is.

It's no accident that before the 19th century most scientists were also philosophers.

Standing on the shoulders of great men means about as much as standing to most people. Again it's the way it is and no one cares that all the great physicists, scientists, and educated men drew much on all the great Philosophers. It's not a race. It's a team effort.

 

[Astronuc]

Like would you rather be someone like einstein, witten, Newton or gauss or be a politician like Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Obama, etc.

I prefer to do both anonymously. I don't care for celebrity.

 

[flyingpig]

If you are a physicist/mathematician and you are influential, chances are you will have something named after you. Money can't buy that right? Right...?