I confess, I lost my temper...
Mar. 22nd, 2010 01:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dichroic... When someone started mansplaining quantum physics to me, in relation to a comment in a poetry forum of all places.
No, I don't really know much about particle physics, but at least I know I'm not an expert and don't go foisting my lack of knowledge on others. And I'm pretty sure I know more about it than said mansplainer.
I should have ignored the comment; it was probably the part where he offered to recommend books if I was interested in further reading that tipped me over the edge. I pulled out the nuclear option, with a three point reply. In my first two points, I explained exactly why what he'd said was silly (among other things he'd said quantum physics is so weird it can't be described in normal words; I pointed out thats true of all physics anyway and some other sciences, that scientific terms were all arbitrary ones that worked because scientists use specific agreed definitions that often don't match the colloquial ones, and that having to use equations and special notations for what words don't cover is standard practice throughout physics). And I finished with this:
3. And by the way, I've got degrees in mechanical engineering and space science, and I'm working in the semiconductor industry where we routinely perform operations that were considered physically impossible only a few years ago (like imaging a feature that is smaller than one wavelength of light).
Honestly? I hope I shut him up, but I feel a little cheap now.
No, I don't really know much about particle physics, but at least I know I'm not an expert and don't go foisting my lack of knowledge on others. And I'm pretty sure I know more about it than said mansplainer.
I should have ignored the comment; it was probably the part where he offered to recommend books if I was interested in further reading that tipped me over the edge. I pulled out the nuclear option, with a three point reply. In my first two points, I explained exactly why what he'd said was silly (among other things he'd said quantum physics is so weird it can't be described in normal words; I pointed out thats true of all physics anyway and some other sciences, that scientific terms were all arbitrary ones that worked because scientists use specific agreed definitions that often don't match the colloquial ones, and that having to use equations and special notations for what words don't cover is standard practice throughout physics). And I finished with this:
3. And by the way, I've got degrees in mechanical engineering and space science, and I'm working in the semiconductor industry where we routinely perform operations that were considered physically impossible only a few years ago (like imaging a feature that is smaller than one wavelength of light).
Honestly? I hope I shut him up, but I feel a little cheap now.
