Difficult problem? Hire a physicist to dissect and conquer!

Why you should always hire a physicist to solve your really thorny problems.

Our first semester at uni was absolutely brutal. For reference, if you study physics or math or any other well delineated subject (law, medicine, computer science) at a German university, you will never see a general electives course again. Instead, day one, your entire generalist-school life is effectively over. And your specialist life as “there is nothing in this world but X” will begin. But not only does that mean 50 to 60 hour weeks of equations and proofs, it also means a significant rewiring of your your brain. Because, otherwise, you can’t survive.

It’s a fascinating phenomena, that rewiring. Before my first semester of physics, even as a science loving person, everything — all data if you will — was somehow equally admissible. It was all a blur, and I considered it absolutely normal for life to just kind of float through that ungraspable data cloud. Sure, there are a few obvious, crystal clear areas in that data fog, stuff like “you should always wash your hands before eating because germs”. But that clarity stopped as soon as you asked me deeper questions on what exactly are germs and how do they work. Then, we were back into the everything-is-equal data cloud. There, where most of life seemed to exist. And I didn’t even think it should be any different.

If you want to survive, you need to figure out, fast!, what are the most important influences in the system you are trying to solve. 

Cue my first weeks in an intense physics studies program. Twelve hours of pure, college-level math plus a good twenty hours of homework, experimental physics lectures with another 5-10 hours of homework each week, and a chemistry class to round it all out. It was a lot. Especially for the untrained mind. When all information is somehow equally important, you have no chance to solve a physics problem or math proof. If you want to survive, you need to figure out, fast!, what are the most important influences in the system you are trying to solve. Where and how are all these different forces acting, which forces are acting at all and which ones can I ignore? What information do I need to make a successful calculation? Do I need to hunt down some extra info, do I not? Even “worse” with math, in my opinion. For every math proof, you have to have a really good grasp on what highly special system you are working in, what rules hold there, what their consequences might be, and which theorems exist for you to be “allowed” to follow that reasoning.

In other words, after a few weeks of nothing but physics or math, your brain can’t help but restructure. It begins to automatically dissect your environment into “important” and “negligible” pieces. It checks if the space your operating in (like washing dishes) can be reduced to a more simple system (do I really need to rinse them all individually? Why do I even rinse?) and how to effectively navigate it (what’s the most productive way to get these dishes clean?). That becomes your new normal. Inside the classroom and out.

That’s what a good physicist and mathematician does. Effectively clearing data fogs, seeing what’s truly important and what is just a distraction.
It’s our version of smelling blood.

Suddenly, the data fog of everyday life begins to clear. Nothing is “equally acceptable” anymore. Everything has a hierarchy, an assigned interaction, a place in the system. Even in things where the fog remains for the time being, like biology or social sciences, the ways on how to navigate the fogginess, though, is automatically clear. You could say, there are obvious data highways in the ungraspable blur. And thus, if I ever decide to transverse that unknown part of the data fog, it becomes a very predictable operation on how to do so. And believe me, after all that logic brainwashing of the first weeks (and years afterwards), I don’t only navigate that fog more clear-eyed, I can’t help but clear it up, too. That’s what a good physicist and mathematician does. Effectively clearing data fogs, seeing what’s truly important and what is just a distraction. Naturally. It’s a built-in instinct. It can’t be helped. It’s our version of smelling blood.

A note of caution though. Physicists are also just humans with faults and shortcomings. And one shortcoming that unfortunately gets bred into us throughout these brain-reshaping times is a sense of superiority when it comes to other sciences, especially the social sciences. The resulting bias can be deafening. Even the most amazing data-fog-clearing physicist can become absolutely inept when asked to wander through data areas touching on “social” problems, like emotional immaturity in high-level decision making, racism, sexism, inequality, and so forth. All of these topics have a fantastic amount of data on them that should be easy to navigate and understand, but in my experience that is often impossible to the “scientifically” trained. There’s a deep-seated refusal to use their tools and abilities for that type of “murkiness”. Just FYI.

And now swinging back into the other direction: data-fog-clearing on steroids. The more abstract and intangible the problem you are trying to solve, the more helpful a theoretically minded physicist will be. Why? Because, with them, there is an inherent, intrinsic affinity for purely-data questions. But don’t expect them to be better the higher their degree. When it comes to real-life problems, even abstract ones, you’d want somebody who can emphasize with the people affected (a type of murky data) and somebody who is eager to work in or at least with cross-functional teams (aka the opposite of climbing the academic ladder). But don’t worry about them knowing little about your real-world field of speciality. It’s just an area of data fog they’ll clear in no time whatsoever.

You are bringing them on for their unique, and extremely powerful ability to prioritize and dissect and connect. An incredibly gifted data artist if you want.

In short, there is an immense upside of hiring physicists, even if their previous experience is unrelated to your direct line of work. You are bringing them on for their unique, and extremely powerful ability to prioritize and dissect and connect. An incredibly gifted data artist if you want. Somebody who can help you glean a new, inspiring, and highly constructive perspective on that blurry, ungraspable problem that’s been plaguing you for so long. Even if you weren’t even aware you had that problem in the first place…

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PS: If you are a physicist and you want to use fancy language, you could call it “first principle thinking”. People like that phrase, a lot.  Make sure to put that on your resume.

Daily Shot of Insight March 6, 2023

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Post picture by Fabio on Unsplashed.

Article picture generated by Dall-e.