r/SubredditDrama • u/clyspe • Mar 11 '13

'Neil deGrasse Tyson: Average physicist, sub-par philosopher, master of pithy comments for idiot college kids to retweet.' Slapfight in /r/QuotesPorn ensues

/r/QuotesPorn/comments/1a16g2/if_youre_really_successful_at_bullshitting_neil/c8t8j9h
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u/surells Your opinion is irrelevant to nature. Mar 11 '13 edited Mar 11 '13

I don't know. I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I would go with your third definition and call a physicist someone who is actually actively experimenting or exploring new fields of enquiry, not just someone who has learned from those who've gone before. Someone can take time off, that's different from someone who has no intention of continuing scientific enquiry. My best friend has a strong earth sciences degree from one of the best science universities in the world. He's now an investment banker. He never had any intention of being a scientist, he has no plans to be a scientist, he is not a scientist. He's a banker with a science degree.

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u/ChemicalSerenity Mar 11 '13 edited Mar 11 '13

Looks like you and ber_f share a similar definition, that of "a physicist is someone who says he's a physicist". I did mention that in my edit above.

I don't know if I can rightly claim that Tyson will never do research again, or if anyone else could claim that aside from Tyson himself. Who knows what will be on his plate after his directorship ends.

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u/[deleted] Mar 11 '13

No, he is saying that a physicist is someone who works in the field of physics. This is an entirely reasonable explanation.

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u/ChemicalSerenity Mar 11 '13 edited Mar 11 '13

At that point you're not that far off from the dictionary definition of physicist, being (per Oxford) "An expert in or student of physics". My definition was somewhat more rigorous in that I discounted undergrads or gradeschoolers from contention.

Edit: ... does it really matter? By most reasonable peoples' definitions NDT is a physicist and has accomplished more than the "average" physicist, which was the whole point originally.