Posted by Chad Orzel on May 24, 2010 I’m leaving for DAMOP tomorrow, and did a presentation for local high-schoolers today, so everything is in chaos here. Thus, a poll to pass the time, inspired by my current activities:
The word “best” naturally implies a single item, so choose only one.
“The word “best” naturally implies a single item, so choose only one.”
Well, yes, clearly each individual person can only find one item on the list to be “best” (barring any ties, but let’s ignore that for now.)
But when you’re aggregating the opinions of many people, having each one indicate only their single favorite does not necessarily indicate which one choice is “best” with respect to the group as a whole. (Or, “the sum of truncated preference vectors does not equal the truncation of the sum of preference vectors.”)
The belief that “best” “naturally implies” that each person can “choose only one” is why democratic politics sucks as bad as it does.
(Down with plurality! Up with approval voting or score voting!)
I seem to get more out of talking to people informally then that actual posters and presentations. The face to face personal interaction with scientists is most helpful for me.
The best part of a conference is having dinners at good restaurants.
Dale is right. It doesn’t tell you much to know what people find “the best” out of so many options. It would be better to let people rate these (i.e. Score Voting) or vote for more than one (i.e. Approval Voting).
You've read the blog, now try the books:
How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog is published by Basic Books. "“Unlike quantum physics, which remains bizarre even to experts, much of relativity makes sense. Thus, Einstein’s special relativity merely states that the laws of physics and the speed of light are identical for all observers in smooth motion. This sounds trivial but leads to weird if delightfully comprehensible phenomena, provided someone like Orzel delivers a clear explanation of why.” --Kirkus Reviews "Bravo to both man and dog." The New York Times.
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is published by Scribner. "It's hard to imagine a better way for the mathematically and scientifically challenged, in particular, to grasp basic quantum physics." -- Booklist "Chad Orzel's How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is an absolutely delightful book on many axes: first, its subject matter, quantum physics, is arguably the most mind-bending scientific subject we have; second, the device of the book -- a quantum physicist, Orzel, explains quantum physics to Emmy, his cheeky German shepherd -- is a hoot, and has the singular advantage of making the mind-bending a little less traumatic when the going gets tough (quantum physics has a certain irreducible complexity that precludes an easy understanding of its implications); finally, third, it is extremely well-written, combining a scientist's rigor and accuracy with a natural raconteur's storytelling skill." -- BoingBoing
May 24, 2010
May 24, 2010
May 24, 2010
May 25, 2010
