What do people think of physics students? What reaction do you get when you tell people you’re a physicist? Usually the reaction I get ranges from a smiling “that’s really interesting!” to the wide-eyed, exaggeratedly scared face “I can’t do math” response. Actually, it doesn’t range…it’s usually just one or the other. I like the first one.
What about people who don’t do physics, but who know about it? Again, two distinct responses come to mind. The slow-nodding, admiring “you’re learning some valuable skills, I wish I could do math”, or the “does your exorbitant, recession-proof funding solve any problems NOW?”
What do physics students think of themselves? This is left as an exercise for the reader…
The only question like this I can answer with any integrity is what I myself think of physics students. I think we’re a group of people in one of the luckiest niches we could ever nestle ourselves into. My argument for this is simple: our main responsibility is to become mentally agile. We’re not responsible for memorizing flocks of data, playing odds, being diplomatic, enforcing the law, risking our careers over political popularity, developing risky business campaigns, doing manual labour (or we can at least delegate it once we’re old enough). The responsibilities of a physicist may not all be glamorous, but my point is that it FORCES us to develop critical thinking skills that we can apply elsewhere in life. We spend hours racking our brains over the proper way to parametrize a surface, and at the end of that day we can enjoy a wealth of mental versatility that some people have to develop on their days off in order to remain sharp.
Mental versatility is a key to freedom. It makes us self-sufficient and independent, and even if it doesn’t guarantee we make good decisions, it guarantees we make clearerdecisions.
But mental versatility isn’t enough to make our lives easy. In fact, it makes some people’s lives difficult once they become aware of, for example, things they don’t like but can’t change.
I believe one of the greatest long-term investments we can make, as physicists or not, is to develop a versatile set of skills, intellectual and non. Even if we don’t need them to fight for our survival, self-sufficience begets self satisfaction.
Not to say that we should all farm our own crops and build our own houses from scratch, but what we may do is acquire new skills that allow us to solve our own problems, in the same way that learning physics fosters a mindset that can solve problems. Here are a few things you could consider doing to complete the physicist’s advantage:
1) Learn to build a fire. Even if you’re not fighting for survival, I guarantee this will hold the attention of everyone in front of it, even if they’re carrying on a conversation with someone right beside them.
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Fire
2) Make homemade bread. It takes only about 20 mins of labour time, and it’s actually cheaper than Wonderbread! I really recommend this recipe.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Multi-Grain-Bread-with-Sesame-Flax-and-Poppy-Seeds-523
3) Be nice to people who irritate you, and forgive good people. Although this sounds more like a decision than a skill, some of the people who notice and respect this trait are the people whose admiration is most valuable.
4) Do home repairs. If you’ve lived in student housing, you’ll know handymen aren’t always the messiahs you hope for. This is an excellent guide.
http://homerepair.about.com/od/plumbingrepair/Plumbing_Repair_DIY_Tips_and_StepByStep_Guides.htm
5) Become informed about conversation topics that seem to come up a lot.
6) Understand the economic crisis! The Inside Job is a concise and accessible documentary that gives a thorough rundown.
http://vidbox.net/file.php?fd=c86221b7af9ba6738f45f733d916bd41
7) Consider every action an investment in your values. Find something you do regularly that doesn’t fit. Remove it from your routine.
8) Identify your biases, and go learn about them. If your opinion doesn’t change, feel happy. If your opinion does change, feel happy.
9) Don’t think about any phase of your life as a stage of necessary hard work so that you can enjoy life later. Enjoy your hard work.
10) Arrive 15 minutes early, and carry something with you that can occupy 15 minutes of your time.
*11) Here’s a bonus one: http://litreactor.com/columns/20-common-grammar-mistakes-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong