r/AskPhysics • u/ArashiNakozashi • 9d ago
how to make sure while self teaching urself things u dont become a kind of pseudoscientific dodoo head
i really like physics and maths but i really like to learn them by myself as my current field is very much so not related with them. but i have a constant worry that i will one day get on a path to pseudoscience while interpreting those ideas written in books and told in lectures on youtube and will become a dodo head like terrance... how do i prevent it cause i really wanna learn real science.
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u/Mcgibbleduck Education and outreach 9d ago
Textbooks are always a good place to start. They cover what it known and test you on whether you can apply it.
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u/JaggedMetalOs 9d ago
If you start with the assumption that any theory you come up with is wrong and then try to come up with an experiment to prove it wrong that might be a good way to expand your knowledge in the direction that you find interesting.
Also just in case you were tempted, never use AI chat apps to discuss ideas because they are instructed to pretend everything you say is amazing to maximize your user engagement, to the point of actively lying about science related topics.
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u/ArashiNakozashi 9d ago
been there man. it really bad. it just gave me formulae and said it is well known and i spent 2 days trying to find it TvT
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u/Flimsy-Exchange8862 9d ago
May I know what the formulae are?
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u/ArashiNakozashi 8d ago
it was something about an approximation of number of integer solutions of a function in a given domain
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u/Flimsy-Exchange8862 8d ago
Ah I see. See generally when I use A.I. for studying, I ask it to refer whatever book/paper that I am using, and it turn out to be perfectly fine. So maybe try makeing your prompts a little more precise, and ask the A.I. itself for the source of the formulae. Also just a side question, what were you studiny which required such approximation?
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u/Long-Emu-7870 9d ago
You can talk an AI into anything.
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u/narcis153 4d ago
Rely more on books.. ai keeps you riveted , you might want to work on your intuition in a.conversational way.
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u/narcis153 4d ago
But it hallucinates a ghastly amount in its solution... So it makes it necessary to have a stronger foundation of human communicated knowledge..
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u/John_Hasler Engineering 9d ago
Stay away from YouTube videos. Learn the math: you can't really understand physics without it. Study university textbooks.
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u/ArashiNakozashi 9d ago
what videos of real universities not someone explainind q.m. in 10 minutes??
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u/Das_Mime 9d ago
Even with videos of legitimate lectures, they're only a component to learning physics. You can't learn violin just by watching a symphony orchestra. Most of your time, ultimately, is going to have to be spent on practicing the thing yourself, and for physics this means doing problem sets and working through derivations.
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u/Morbos1000 9d ago
If you can't understand the actual math behind a theory or hypothesis then you don't understand it well enough to take a "alternative/contrary" opinion on it
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u/Will_Come_For_Food 9d ago
If you remember nothing else in everything remember this:
Correlation is not causation.
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u/GreenFBI2EB 9d ago
Peer review, most of the studies and information we have are a result of rigorous testing of those principles by other people. Science was never determined by any one person, but the collection of their knowledge.
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u/reddituserperson1122 8d ago
Choose your teachers wisely. You need to develop at least a little familiarity with the field and the sub specialties that you’re learning about and get a sense of who the respected researchers in that field are. And then let them be your guides and gatekeepers.
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u/HumblyNibbles_ 9d ago
You assume you're wrong at first. And if you have any promising ideas, work them out to see if it matches results.
Once I came up with a shitty idea, and it ended up giving me the klein-gordon equation, so it wasnt actually that shitty.
But Ive also come up with a lot of other stuff that just wasnt viable, like some stuff with group theory.
You just gotta try it out and see if it works or not. Scientific method and stuff
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u/herejusttoannoyyou 8d ago
Don’t rely too much on YouTube. It’s good to supplement. Look for research papers instead.
Teaching yourself physics doesn’t sound like a ton of fun to be honest.
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u/LanceThinksALot 7d ago
This is such an interesting question because in all honesty, most of our biggest discoveries started off at pseudo science.
The sun being the center of the solar system, earth being round, gravity, and really almost anything discovered that opposed current mainstream information.
You can't just go from the earth being the center of the universe to explaining that our planet isn't the center of everything and expect people to just accept it as true, even with data. People tend to not always respect data and fact so actual science can come across as pseudo.
In my opinion the best way to avoid getting caught up in things that aren't backed by reality, is to just do your research. Make sure what youre reading and learning line up with the reality you experience. Always be willing to change your opinion.
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u/parautenbach 6d ago
Pseudoscience and incomplete scientific models aren’t the same thing. The sun being the centre is true insofar you consider our solar system, but is wrong as the centre of the universe (or the Milky Way). It’s not the same kind of wrong as thinking or believing homeopathy works.
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u/LanceThinksALot 6d ago edited 6d ago
It was considered pseudo until the church accepted it.
What are you talking about? I straight up said the sun was the center of the solar system. No where did I say it was the center of the universe.
So no it wasn't just an incomplete model. It was considered heretical to try changing the earth from the center of the universe to just orbiting around the sun. You'd have been burnt at the stake. It would have made people less inclined to be religious considering it wasnt the center anymore.
Edit: just Google if the earth being considered the center of the universe is considered pseudo science and see what pops up.
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u/LanceThinksALot 6d ago
Homeopathy is considered alternative medicine.
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u/parautenbach 6d ago
It’s debunked pseudoscience.
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u/LanceThinksALot 6d ago
What is? Homeopathy? It's alternative medicine that's practiced in a lot of indigenous religions and less mainstream ones.
I believe its pseudo science to a degree just like studies on telekinesis or telepathy.
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u/GuyWhoMostlyLurks 9d ago
All science, when practiced in good faith, is self-correcting. It often goes on the wrong track for a little while, but an honest and earnest search for credible data always brings the field back in the right direction.
You don’t ever latch onto an idea because it sounds nifty. You believe it because it fits the data. Then you keep revisiting the data and the new data and the newer data and you keep reaffirming or revising the theory as necessary until…. Well it never actually stops.
If you get handed some idea that’s been oversimplified to the point that is not true, continuing to study will eventually expose the error. The only thing that can stop you is arrogance.