1A thought problem Car #1 Leaves New York for Philadelphia,90 miles away, traveling at 40 mph. 15min later, Car #2 leaves Philadelphiatraveling to NYC at 55mph. When theymeet which car is closer to Philadelphia?Physics 4810 / 7810 Week 11 (zoinks!)Day 19: Fa2008:Politics, Society and PhysicsMahajan, Fish, Bartlett(Rosenberg & Weisz)If you haven’t voted yet, and this 1.5 hr blockwill make the difference,you’re excused from class ---I encourage you to voteOur Class Norms…• Again, potentially charged topics• Please focus on ideas, not people• CONSTRUCTIVE critiques are the best• It is okay & encouraged for you to differ with:– Authors– Professor– And maybe each other…• Debate, Dissent, and Discussion are patriotic ; )Gender Gap in 1110Pre and Post Scores7 semesters; 2100 studentsPollock, et. al. Phys. Rev. ST PER, 3, 010107 (2007)024681012141618IE 1 IE 2 All<S>M - <S>FPretest PosttestGender Gap• On TEST performance!• This is an indicator of:– TEST performance– Not necessarily a measure of understanding– And certainly not of ability (except on the test).Course Grades0.11 *(0.04)4.5 *(0.6)-4.5 *(0.8)-5.6 *(0.9)<S>M - <S>F0.04 , 0.173.3 , 6.3-7.6 , -2-8.1 , -3RangeCourse GPAExamsHomeworkParticipation• 7 semesters, N ~ 3600• Average differences in % points, except GPA• Differences offset one another2Politics, Political and Partisan1. A treatise on the science or theory of politics; spec. the treatisewritten by Aristotle.2. The theory or practice of government or administration.3 b. The assumptions or principles relating toor underlying any activity, theory, or attitude,esp. when concerned with questions of powerand status in a society.4. a. Actions concerned with the acquisition orexercise of power, status, or authorityA Meta-message … How we saythings shapes what gets heard• I see this paper as a rant.• I got so mad. . .• “Do this … Don’t do that!!!”Too easy to dismiss…Your Professor’s Bias• All classes are political• Education is inherently political• Education is the key mechanism by whichsociety replicates itself, and hence• Education relates to assumptions andpower of relations in social activities.A word about Fish and Mahajan• Fish is not being sarcastic (from the contextof his other work)• He is arguing about Partisanship rather thanPolitics, I suspect• Mahajan… sort of sarcastic… sort of….Physics as a tool . . ."It is quite possible to acquire a toolbut to be unable to use it." In myopinion, this is far more than'quite possible;' this is inevitable.From Mahajan (Nov 2004)The ambiguity reflects my own conflicted viewsabout science. Should we stop doing any research?I think so. Should we stop teaching physics tograduate students? Probably. Should we stopteaching physics to undergraduates? Not sure.Should we stop teaching physics as a liberal artssubject? Probably not. Should we teach itin schools? Depends how we teach it -- as a liberalart, maybe yes; as an exam/filtering subject, maybenot. At least those are my current thoughts on howto draw some lines, but it's a slippery slopeand there are so many arguments on every side3 3) In summary, the paper [Fish]argues that science should notenter politics, but I believe that itis at least equally as importantthat politics not enter science.Who asks the questions?• In science?Who asks the questions• In classes?Good News?Bad News• Inclusion• Stereotype threat• Self-selection• . . .Who asks the questions• In classes?• “[Students] may believe they need to appease the instructor inorder to receive their desired grades. From this perspective,many people may conclude that political discussions areultimately unproductive . . .”• “Professors encouraging political discourse is not only fine, butgreat in my opinion, but if they take a side one way or the other,I think it would discourage students with dissenting opinionsfrom speaking up.”• Is it possible not to have a reigning paradigm? [see comment about making little Noah’s (which I foundamusing and disturbing)]• Do Away with grades?• Value PARTICIPATION• Students dictate what happens?4Bartlett Approach. . .• the first law of sustainability:"Population growth or growth in the rateof consumption of resources cannot be[indefinitely] sustained.”• What is a silent lie?What about innovation?• Can’t we find a new energy source?• What do the Dismal Theorems say?Silent Lie• What is the silent lie for:– Fish– Mahajan– Bartlett• What are their stated goals???Mediation• Tools mediate (allow for thought) thoughtStudentsGoal / ActionPhysics / PERHow would BARTLETT/MAHAJAN/FISHchange physics?StudentsWHAT GOAL DOES IT SUPPORTWHAT GOES HERE?Context• Context is the collection of componentsand the relations among them - theconnected whole which includesconstituent elements and the relationsamong them.• Birdwhistell uses the analogy of a rope todevelop such a notion of context:5Context as RopeThe fibers that make up the rope arediscontinuous; when you twist them togetheryou don't make them continuous, you makethe thread continuous .... even though it maylook in a thread as though each of thoseparticles[fibres] are going all through it, thatisn't the case... Obviously, I am not talkingabout the environment. I am not talkingabout inside and outside. I am talking aboutthe conditions of the system(Birdwhistell as quoted in R. McDermott 1993, p. 274).Practice thisI leave my house lights on over night, howmuch money did I waste (hint: you payapprox. 10cents /(kW*hr) )?Energy = power*time = 100W * 8 hrs = 800 W*hr= 0.8 kW*hr.Since you pay about $0.10 for each kW*hr, that'sabout 8 cents. No big deal. Does this mean energy ischeap?More Practice• What if I have to produce this energy 0.8 kW*hrs?Assume I am about 1/10th of a horse 0.1 horsepower running on a treadmill1 hp = 750 Watts.So I produce about 75 Watts. For how long to get 800 Watt - hrs?(more than the amount of time I left the bulb on!)Is energy still cheap? [I’m willing to pay you 8 cents to do this]Estimation / Orders of Magnitude• Useful if you don’t have exact data• Too complex a calculation -- simplifyformula• Gives trendsExponential growth• Al Bartlett contends, "The greatestshortcoming of the human race is ourinability to understand the exponentialfunction."Orders of Magnitude /Exponential Growth• How much will a hamburger cost in 2052?• When will we run out of fossil fuels?•