A note on the mentality of physicists

I work extensively with physicists these days. They are amazing, talented and creative people. But I have discovered an interesting feature. Physicists sometimes struggle with man-made devices. And I think I know the reason for it. They are trained to work with the unknown. With things without a user interface. Where you have to research to figure out what is going on. An many times what is going on is unknown or not well understood to start with.

This is in stark contrast to how man-made devices function. They are thought thru and if one can think of a useful feature, it is highly likely that someone before has thought of it and that that feature is implemented. But since physicists have limited experience with man-made devices, they often expect things to be more involved, complex and hard to deal with than what they often are. Hence they struggle.

The first Indiana Jones

I was just watching the first Indiana Jones movie. It is from 1981. Then I realised it is interesting in how many ways this movies could never have been made today. It is xenofobic, even racist with the supreior white male. But it is also mystifying something nobody in todays global society will find exciting. Today it is all about aliens and super heros. Some old idian tribe does not excite us any more.

This is the societal change we have gone through in 35 years. Remarkable.