physics majors when they're asked to apply their knowledge (they've never been outside of the lab)
If you ask a scientist what pi is, they will tell you it equals 3.14159. If you ask a mathematician, they will tell you pi equals the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. If you ask an engineer, they will say “about 3, but let's round it up to 5 to be safe.”
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I'd replace scientist to something more precise like physicist because usually people consider mathematicians as scientists even if it depends on definitions.
usually people consider mathematicians as scientists
Yikes!
... Wait, does this mean I can call a historian an artist? Then I'm game.
Usually (in my experience?) history is one of the 'humanities', which are more lumped with arts than sciences.
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Yes it usually is, but I think the methodologies for modern history research is very much scientific.
As someone with a degree in physics who ended up in an engineering role, I approve of this meme.
Applied physics is a thing. Lots of jobs there. Geophysics, biophysics, engineering physics (yes, that's a thing...)
I used my particle physics and knowledge of quantum topology to hybridise a new species of drought-resistant pineapple just the other day. It's that easy!
Okay. Good luck having anything from modernity without physics then. Especially your plumbing.
Well, we did have plenty of engineered items before having the proper physics theory to explain what was happening. Physics does a whole lot more than simply enabling engineering to do more. It's the basis of our understanding of the universe.
Oh, I do my plumbing based on political science. But that's not especially modern. The real genius is using music theory to run my email server. I'm setting self-hosted jazz on a saxophone next weekend.
What's the first indicator a scientist tried to build their own experiment using the soldering station ?
The smell of burnt fingers.
What's the scientist waiting for sitting in front of their own experiment ?
Waiting for the infinite loop they coded to finish after they claimed they didn't need the engineer's help to write the code in their experiment.
How many scientists do you need to change a light bulb ?
Theoretically just one, but it can take several until one of them can call an engineer and admit they only know how to change light bulbs theoretically.
What does a scientist call an electrolytic capacitor ?
Acid distribution subsystem.
Her: "No I meant I'm a software engineer."
Him: "Oh. I also hate myself and want to die."
Ask a physician physicist to build a bridge, it collapse but he knows exactly how and why it collapsed.
Ask an engineer to do it, it holds but he has no idea how it's holding together.
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I think the word you're looking for is physicist. A physician is a medical doctor (as in a person that treats sick people). A physicist is a person that studies physics (as in a person that knows how to solve word problems involving pool tables).
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It's a classic French speaker mistake because physicist is "physicien" and physician is "médecin", very different.
Depends on the specific engineering branch. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Sometimes nothing at all. But all engineering branches share one thing with physics: math.
I think the joke is you don't understand enough physics to make that your gig, so you go engineering as the backup plan. Source: am IT, we're everyone's backup plan when their initial goals fall through
About to graduate in physics and I've definitely scrolled through IT job postings when anxious about not getting a PhD position
Don't worry, when IT students get those moments they look at construction ads. It's turtles all the way down.
And when us constructing workers get those moments we say fuck!, but at least we don't have student loans to pay off.
i didn’t get a degree until I was almost thirty, from an online college at that. I’m a complete idiot and somehow earning a bit over $200k a year in the Midwest at forty years old. Sometimes I have to meet with people and I’m like man, just let me back in my hole, wtf am I doing here, I can barely understand what these people are talking about let alone process any of the shit they are saying. I talk, ask questions, sometimes get answers I can understand but always make an idiot out of myself but I keep talking. Everyone says it’s better to keep your mouth shut and be assumed to be an idiot instead of opening your mouth and removing all doubt but I swear I’ve made a career out of being an idiot. If it wasn’t for IT I would be cleaning shit off guys dicks in a brothel somewhere to feed myself.
In my experience so far asking the question instead of just fucking everything up by guessing is a huge reason why you get paid what you get paid.
Just graduated from college in IT, I know a thing or two because I've seen a thing or two. I originally wanted to do creative communications but couldn't get past the entrance exam.
I have worked with guys who got physics undergrad and mech E masters. They are both awful engineers who don't really get it. I take this joke too personally because I know it's bs from experience.
The absolute worst is when those kinds of engineers graduate but are incapable of thinking about the problems they are designing solutions for.
Engineering is just the economical application of applied physics, without Physicists Engineers work off faulty knowledge, without Engineers nothing gets designed.
The level of understanding an Engineer needs, however, is purely within the practical and economical, while Physicists understandably have more in-depth knowledge.
I did chemical engineering because it only required two physics courses.
And because I like chemistry.
In my engineering school, the major difference between software engineers and real engineers is that software engineers don't study physics.
Engineering is more like accounting, but for objects instead of money. Tables, rule books, and lobbyists.
Hey we understand plenty! Well the parts we have to to make the thing not go boom anyways....
Excellent, excellent. One thought, though. Maybe it should be boom, boom, and then kaboom. Sort of a hoo-ah grand finale!
I'm sure you didn't mean it, but given the dearth of women in engineering, there's an interpretation of this meme that's kinda sexist.
Like I said, I don't think you meant it.
Independent of who you are the meme could be read in a certain way.
- You could replace either character and the meme would still work. Sometimes, things are just a joke.
- I'm not responsible for bigots who misinterpret things based on their own biases.
- Woke scolding only divides people who should be allies instead of addressing those who are the problem (see 2).
If you think this doesn't exist then you haven't spent enough time differentiating Marxism from liberal identity politics.
so glad you were here to explain to me the error of my ways, whatever would i do without your enlightened understanding of marxism🙄
if you think people complaining about "woke scolds" aren't 99% conservatives then idk what to tell you dog, particularly in the context of "actually being concerned about social issues pushes people into reaction!"
If 1) is true then taking a stand on 2) and 3) is pointless at best and callous at worst.
Like you said, the joke works equally well with the genders reversed to remove the possibility of misinterpretation.
I understand, however, I feel that the critique of this meme is an overreach and, frankly, misdirected. By focusing on this as a problem, we risk diverting attention from the real, substantive issues that need our energy and advocacy. It's important to pick our battles wisely and concentrate on fighting blatant sexism and inequality, rather than reading into harmless humor. We do a disservice to the cause by attacking allies over perceived slights that, in reality, are neutral and unrelated to the broader struggles women face in STEM. Regardless of who is in this meme, it does not effect my position as a woman in STEM in any way.
I'm not trying to attack you or anything. I'm not calling you a sexist and throughout this whole interaction I've given you maximal benefit of the doubt about your intentions.
All I wanted to do is point out that this meme could be read to have an unintended negative meaning, a point which I don't think you've even disagreed with.
If a big part of why this meme is okay to you is the fact that you're a woman in STEM them at least men should be aware that it might be interpreted differently if they share it or spread it around. It is, after all, a meme.
That sounded darker when I misread your comment as
the death of women in engineering