科学与数学nautil.us
这一切和物理到底有什么关系？
What Does Any of This Have to Do with Physics?
2016 — 2021，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这是一篇 Nautilus 长文，作者回顾自己攻读理论物理博士、与导师 Rajeev 做研究的经历，写下其中的迷茫、自我怀疑，以及寻找可研究问题的困难。文章借这段经历讨论导师指导、科研训练和个人选择，也常被读者拿来类比创业与职业道路。
为什么经久不衰：它把博士科研中“判断该解决哪个问题”的普遍困境写得具体而诚实，因而在多年后仍能引起科研、创业和职业选择者的共鸣。
HN 评论精选
不应把全部希望押在单一导师或路径上，应主动协作求助，靠长时间蛮干并不可取。
一篇很棒的文章。贯穿全文让我印象深刻的是，“你可以做任何事”这一想法几乎被他把所有“苹果”都放进一个篮子——Rajeev——这件事掩盖了。那当然是另一个时代，我认为它凸显了互联网和技术对我们职业成功有多重要。放到今天，Henderson 本可以通过合作借助他人，正如 Rajeev 自己在结尾指出的。文章某处提到他对老师的怀疑，我觉得大多数人都需要意识到：老师也只是有自身缺点的人。没有哪里说你的老师会知道你成功的答案。如果你不断感到迷失和怀疑，就应该扩大接触面，也向其他头脑求助。他走在有成千上万个岔路、成千上万条路的旅程上，而把自己锁在房间里每天15小时、基本上蛮力尝试不同路径，并不是做研究或生活中任何事的好方式。
volkk查看英文原文
A great read. Something that stuck with me throughout the article was that the concept of "you can do anything" was almost masked by the fact that he had placed all of his "apples" into one basket--Rajeev. Of course this was a different time, and I think it highlights just how important the internet and technology have become in our professional success. Had this been present day, Henderson could have tried to make use of others through collaboration, just as Rajeev himself pointed out towards the end. Somewhere in the article he mentioned his doubts within his teacher, and that's something that I think most people need to realize. Teachers are just people with their own faults. Nowhere does it state that your teacher is going to know the answer to your success. If you continually find yourself lost and doubtful, you should extend your reach and try to seek help from other minds as well. He was on a journey with thousands of forks within thousands of roads, and simply locking yourself in a room for 15 hours a day, essentially brute forcing different paths isn't a healthy way of going about research or anything in life.
好导师很关键，科研核心是在方向不明时自我引导；把梦想当工作需能继续享受过程。
哇，我看出这和创业相关，因为这是我见过的关于研究生院和博士研究最好的文章之一。尝试它的人有能力也有动力，但好的导师往往很关键。有很多山要爬，最重要的是学会在道路不明时引导自己！我们想改变世界……看到这些句子时我想也许他的导师做得不太好：大约和 Rajeev 做了一年研究，我发现自己沮丧且身处迷雾，越陷越深却不知道为什么。是我数学背景不足？是我宏大的目标？是我只是不够聪明？还是 Rajeev 让我做的这类研究？然后他继续做论文并毕业，这说明 Rajeev 尽到了作为老板和教授的责任。关于利用优势、与他人合作、聚焦成功和减少错误的建议……确实适用于大多数追求。我很难过作者说不记得自开始博士以来快乐过。把梦想变成工作是危险的事，尤其如果你不能仍然享受这条路。他写作很好，希望他现在享受写作。
kurthr查看英文原文
Wow, I see how this is relevant to startups, because it's one of the best essays about grad-school and PhD research as I've seen. The people who attempt it are capable and driven, but a good advisor is often critical. There are a lot of hills to climb and the most important thing to learn is how to guide yourself when the way isn't clear! We want to change the world... When I saw these lines I thought maybe his Advisor wasn't doing such a good job: A year or so of research with Rajeev, and I found myself frustrated and in a fog, sinking deeper into the quicksand but not knowing why. Was it my lack of mathematical background? My grandiose goals? Was I just not intelligent enough? Or maybe it was the type of research Rajeev had me doing. Then he moved on to a thesis and graduated, which shows that Rajeev was doing his job as a Boss and Professor. Advice about using your strengths, working with others, focusing on success and minimizing mistakes... it really does translate to most quests. I'm sad the writer doesn't remember being happy since he starting his PhD. Choosing to make your dream your job is a dangerous thing, especially if you can't still enjoy the path. He's good at writing so I hope he enjoys that now.
选择正确的问题或项目比解决问题更难，科研与创业在此相通。
这篇长文中的一句话：“现在你知道理论物理为什么这么难了，”他说，“不是问题难，虽然它们确实难。难的是知道该尝试解决哪些问题。事实上，那是最难的部分。” 和创业一样，所有创业都难，但知道该追求并赋予生命哪一个非常难。
smaddali查看英文原文
A quote from this long article.. --- “Now you know what makes theoretical physics so hard,” he said. “It’s not that the problems are hard, although they are. It’s that knowing which problems to try and solve is hard. That, in fact, is the hardest part.” --- As with startups, all startups are hard but knowing which one to pursue and give life is very hard.
物理艰难且未必有产出，需出于热爱并接受其抽象性；同情追随热爱后幻灭的人。
作为一名物理学家，我总看到人们想知道拿它做什么、为自己所有辛苦找理由。但物理是一门爱好学科。它的疆域极其复杂，你可能一辈子在边界上推进却毫无进展。你必须因为热爱而做，并且必须接受它所有的抽象胡扯。我也学过数学和艺术史，所以我能接受做我认为抽象很棒的事而不去想工作。我幸运的是做软件开发者，到处有工作，但我的意思是，我真的很同情那些追随所爱之后幻灭的人。那真的很糟。
pducks32查看英文原文
As a physicist, I see people all the time wondering what to do with it and looking for a justification for all the hard work. But physics is a hobby subject. It's rim is so vastly complicated that you can push and push at the boundary your whole life and get no where. You have to do it because you love it and you have to accept the abstract nonsense of it all. I also studied math and art history so I was down to do thinks I thought were abstract awesomeness without wondering about a job. I was lucky in that I'm a software dev so I had a job anywhere but my point is that I really feel for people who follow what they love and then become disillusioned. It really sucks.
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