Thursday,Mar 5 2009, 03:41:31 AM"This is a horse → ●"

this article ends up on the Manila Times 030509.. (shirt design by Leonard Ocampo)

see shirts here

"This is a horse → ●"

Prometheus Bound

Giovanni Tapang, PhD

A quote printed on a t-shirt has become an effective vehicle of expression for its wearers. Campaigners have made full use of this fact by making t-shirts with memorable slogans and organizations produce their own shirts with matching logos to advertise their trademarks.

I came across a design for a t-shirt made by a physics student organization in UP. It has the phrase "This is a horse" and an arrow pointing to a dot on the front and the words "Don't argue, i'm a physicist" on its back. Many found it funny and apt in describing both method and attitude of physics majors.

Using a point to represent a horse is an common abstraction that proves to be very useful in many fields of science. By whittling away some details, it enables the scientist to center on traits that are shared, in this case by the horse, with other objects. It allows us to have a simpler model to deal with that hopefully could lead to simpler solutions. Abstraction distills the universal aspects of an object to gain understanding of its relationship with other similar objects.

Abstraction necessarily omits some details but taking it to the extreme, such as using a point to model a horse, has limited utility. It might be useful if one is tracking only the center of mass of the horse but it will not tell you about the color of the horse's coat or how many feet does it have. It does allow you to use a single equation to track the position of the horse but it limits the models and their applications stemming from that abstraction.

The t-shirt mentioned above strikes a chord with regard to the level of abstraction one usually does in science. This could be at the extreme of considering everyday objects as points or just leaving out enough details to be able to do categorizations. An example of this is the knowledge that a horse is a four-legged animal quite different from snakes (no legs) and chickens (two).

The universal aspects of the objects that we study, whether this is an atom, a horse, collective system or even society, can be studied to find the general rules of its development. The particularities of the specific object would be the concrete conditions in which these general rules would apply.

On the other hand, refusing to use simpler models would burden the analysis of an object with too many details that are not necessarily useful for the problem at hand. The name of the horse could be Speedy but it does not imply that a horse named such would run fast. Taken to the extreme, refusal for simplified models would lead to a situation where every description is only applicable to a specific situation and there would be no universal ideas only empirical truths.

Another aspect of the t-shirt mentioned above is the phrase "Don't argue. I'm a physicist." We can generalize this to "Don't argue. I'm a scientist." This attitude is not limited to scientists but is often used by different sides of a particular issue. It also points to an attitude of superiority on the side of scientists that has to be corrected to make science more accessible to many.

While it is true that we often rely on experts who have a broad range of knowledge on a particular issue to base our judgments, asserting that the expert is infallible is wrong. Ipse dixit, he-himself-said-it, assertions should not be used as grounds to ignore criticisms or counter-arguments. This often happens when policy makers ignore the economic and social sentiments of a community and argue ipse dixit cherry-picked positions that a particular project is sound on a narrow technical basis.

The superior attitude of some scientists often stems from the expertise that they have. This has to be tempered by putting his or her knowledge in its social context. While the objective truths of science and knowledge might be as it is, the scientists are not necessarily infallible themselves. Its a more comfortable stance to have facts stand out on its own objective (i.e. verifiable and testable) value rather than argue by authority that it is true.

The other extreme is equally dangerous: not believing on experts at all, or worse, not believing in well-reasoned and evidence-based scientific facts. This would lead to superstition and scaremongering. We should base our opinions on well-reasoned and complete appreciation of facts and positions.

Abstraction and a comprehensive view of objects are some of the things one do in the practice of science. Everyone, including scientists, does this on some level everyday. The point being that a horse can indeed be considered as a point and it does not take a physicist to see that.##

Dr. Tapang, the AGHAM national chairperson, is an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Physics.

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Tuesday,Jan 13 2009, 08:35:12 AMnintendo me

I didn't join the christmas splurge. I felt strong, sticking up to my december resolution not to buy unnecessary things with my credit card.

But last week I passed by a toy store and had a childhood recollection of the thing I most wanted from my cousins...

And so I went home with a new blue gameboy advance.

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Wednesday,Dec 24 2008, 02:10:54 AMMerry Christmas to all!

First of all, our christmas party went well. I bagged the best costume award as Princess Toadstool (of Nintendo's Mario).

Second, with the cash prize I got, I bought myself some books... Its about time I read Eragon and a compilation of Pablo Neruda's poems. I'd also like a magic eight ball and a Monopoly boardgame, but I wish someone would send them as gifts instead.

Third, I'm still at work but I'm happy with the overtime pay and all the bonuses the company has given me. With all the money I've got, I've bought an insurance policy my dad sold me. As ...

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