What a PhD means in the "Big Picture"

Yeah, I haven't really posted in a while. One part too busy, one part Christmas. So, yeah, this post is going to be a bit of a hodge-podge. Oh well.

As I have worked on my PhD, I have had a bit of an issue trying to explain clearly what exactly the impact of my research is. I always try and equate it to every day life, or some sort of consumer product. Having to equate it to a consumer product ultimately annoys me. Unfortunately, this is the most realistic way of the general public trying to understand what the end product of a PhD is - A shinier cell phone... lol.

I can go on unending rants about how the media uses "Mythbuster-esuqe ""Science"" " is used to "prove" things like global warming, the end of the world in 2012, and so on, but ultimately that's not productive. People are too deeply rooted in the opinion of what is being presented to them in the popular media and television is absolute fact for anyone to argue an alternate opinion. This is where the label of "conspiracy theorist" is used at-nauseum (granted, sometimes is warranted).

Anyways, I'm off on a tangent.

What I want to do with this post is to explain exactly what a PhD is for society, using an excellent example from The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D. ( http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/ ).

So first, lets consider the below circle as containing the entirety of human knowledge. Everything:

  

By the time someone finishes elementary school, they know (roughly) this much of total human knowledge:

 

Now, when someone finishes high school, they learn a little bit more general knowledge:

 

Now, with a bachelor's degree, you gain more general knowledge, but also gain a specialty, which gives you more knowledge in a specific area, as shown below:

 

A Master's Degree deepens that specialty further:

 

When you start a PhD, you first learn the work of others in your specialty, and reading that work/those papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge:

 

Eventually, you find a specific area of your field to focus a thesis on:

 

For a few years, you work hard on that focused area of work, pushing the boundary of human knowledge:

 

Eventually, one day, a discovery or experiment causes that boundary to give way:

 

That small dent in the "frontier of human knowledge"? That's a Ph.D.:

 

So, the world looks different specifically in that field now:

 Now that the world has been changed by that discovery, its important to reflect on the overall impact, or to look at the bigger picture:

 

So, in the words of the original author, its very important for people to "Keep Pushing".

Anyways, this is the most accurate representation of what a PhD is for society that I've ever seen.

Hooray for Oil!

Recently, I had a fairly decent discussion with one of my colleagues about the Alberta Oilsands, and how they impact the environment. We both agreed that the environmental impact is significant. However, we did not agree on the basis on how to fix the problem. He believed that the individual could have a significant impact and the efforts of individuals could change the minds of society and move Alberta from Oil-dependence.

I agree that the individuals have an important part to play in raising awareness, however, I do not believe that individuals can persuade our economy to diversify beyond being oil-based. In Alberta, whether or not people are directly aware of it, the majority of the economy is based on either providing services and material for the oilfield (as a primary beneficiary) or on the capital generated from the oilfield (secondary and tertiary beneficiaries). Now, the majority of the people working in the oilfield are skilled workers/tradespeople that are building/maintaining the infrastructure (rigs/mines/plants/etc). These are the primary beneficiaries of the oilfield. The salaries that these skilled laborers make is staggering, enough that during the boom of the oilfield in the late 90's/early 2000's there was a significant shortage of labor in Alberta. Usually, people just think as these workers as the only people that benefit economically from the oilfield. What happens when these workers spend this "oil money"? The local retailers benefit. These are the secondary (and sometimes tertiary) beneficiaries of the oilfield. Alberta has one of the most large and brisk retail economies, dealing in a lot of luxury items, fast cars, and lifted (as my wife calls them) "small penis" trucks. In addition, the Provincial Government vastly benefits from the oilfield and the royalties it produces. Long story short, almost everyone in some way, shape, or form benefits from the oilfield.

For quite some time, there have been a lot of organizations and companies doing various things to draw attention to the oilfield and some of the problems associated with it. For example, you had Lush hold protests in front of its stores. You had a bunch of companies such as Gap, Timberland, Levi's, Walgreens, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc. "boycott" Alberta Oil by apparently using oil from other sources in its supply chain. I'm not totally sold that these companies are actually accomplishing anything but pulling a press stunt. These are mostly companies that sell higher end merchandise, ironically to people that are benefiting from the oilfield. Even if their supply chains where made to be completely devoid of Alberta Oil, simple economics would kick in. How you ask? Well, consider this situation. A higher demand for other-than Alberta Oil occurs, the price for that oil increases. Other consumers look at the situation, and are confronted with the choice between expensive non-Alberta Oil, or cheaper Alberta Oil. I can guarantee, with 100% certainty, that someone will buy that Alberta Oil, regardless of whether or not these retail companies do.

So then, how then do you encourage change? How do you encourage the common person to demand change? You saw it fairly recently in the US with Obama's Election. I still believe that Obama won that election convincingly based on one major reason: enough people were affected negatively by the "just" war in Iraq. You effect the everyday life of people enough, they will make a choice for change. Pearl Harbor and 9/11 are more examples of stimulus for wide-sweeping changes in public opinion. Pearl Harbor was an unfortunate, but necessary event to change the perception of entering WWII. Same goes with 9/11 and dealing with terrorism.

I'm not saying that violence is the answer, I'm simply suggesting that the public has to be directly affected, or inconvenienced if you will,  in order to stimulate change. Its nice that we have all these companies/individuals raising awareness. But, without stimulus for change, awareness is useless. So, here's my solution (not necessarily in this order), that may allow Alberta to get off its "oil habit":

1. There has to be a second reasonable and desirable choice for oilfield workers to go. Government must take a leading role in developing industry other than Oil. I don't care whether it is manufacturing, tech, R&D, or what have you, there has to be a diversification of industry. The majority of workers in the oilfield are not specialized to the oilfield. Its simply the highest paying jobs out there currently. Diversify the industry, subsidize that industry to make people want to move from the oilfield. Perhaps something like a lower tax rate for non-oilfield related work.

2. There has to be a stimulus to change public opinion, above and beyond the current awareness-based campaigns. If people are comfortable in their daily lives, no appreciable change will occur. How did we encourage people to recycle drink containers? A deposit. How can we make people take a serious stance on the environmental damage caused by the oilsands? Make the oil companies financially responsible for the environmental damage. The oil companies will not even blink, and just simply pass on the costs to the public. I guarantee you, the second that a litre of gas goes up by $3 overnight for Alberta-Oilsands oil only, you'll have your change in public opinion.

So yeah, long story short, without inconveniencing the public, no change will occur.

Snappy Title Goes Here.

Yeah. I couldn't think of a snappy title today. Oh well.

The running is going fairly well, although its kind of ironic how many things are getting in the way. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it and I want to continue doing it, but it seems like unavoidable things keep popping up. For example, I ended up straining my knee a bit. Nothing serious, no massive damage, just a bit of soreness. So, I downgraded to the stationary bike, at least to keep moving and work on the cardio. I'm thankful I bought  one of those "magnetic resistance" bikes, since its absolutely whisper quiet, and you can easily hear the TV or whatever over the bike. However, at the proper height, the seat, for some reason, slants backwards slightly, and thus the support that should be supporting your tailbone is uncomfortably getting "in the way". Yeah, you know what I mean.. lol. I'm going to have to shim the seat somehow to rotate it forward slightly. So, I stick to the bike for a while, and my knee improves. Then the smoke rolls in. Awesome. Thanks Poz for lighting your province on fire. :D But seriously, the air quality has been the worse that I've ever seen or heard of here due to the smoke from forest fires wafting in from a province over. I managed to find some NASA pictures of the smoke plume, and its kind of amazing. I'm just waiting for Greenpeace to blame the tarsands for that one. I mean, they blame everything else on the tarsands, why not forest fires? So yeah, no running, annoying. Grr.

Progress has been made with work, but, as usual, random annoying things keep popping up. Making some experimental progress, although, as per usual, bureaucratic issues keep popping up. I am not a fan of the bureaucracy involved in the University research community. I've always thought of it as a necessary evil, something you dealt with as it came up. Another bureucratic panic has ensued due to a lack of foresight (partly mine, partly others). I'm currently done the paperwork on my end, and again, I find myself in a "HURRY UP AND WAIT" situation. Luckily, I've had random computer help @ the parents place to keep me relatively distracted while I check my email every 20 minutes waiting for a reply that probably won't happen until the usual 2:30am Monday email. That's fine. I'm enjoying hanging out at my parents place.

Unfortunately, I'm starting to get a bit of cabin fever in terms of my gaming. Its part getting bored with what I have and part not having anyone to play the really interesting games with. Its the usual summer issues with everyone having too much to do, all at the same time. I'm enjoying a renaissance of sorts with my 360. I spent the money to get a VGA connection for it, so I could hook it up to my newer wide screen PC monitor that does 1080 HD. Best 50 bucks spent ever. I've been replaying all those games that I eventually got tired of playing on a non HD screen, with text too small to read, and images too fuzzy to figure out what was going on. Its been great, but now I've played/finished everything that is really worthwhile playing. Been looking at Starcraft 2, but yeah, can't really afford to pick that up right now with the move in sight.

Oh yes, the move. That's coming up shortly. Much excitement. Yay!

Rule 1 of Zombieland: Cardio.

Yup, I'm preparing for the imminent Zombie Invasion. The goal is to run faster than someone, and by gum, I'll do it.

But seriously, I've started running again. I used to run a bit back in the day, before my locker was broken into at the University, and everything got pinched, including my New Balance shoes. Oh Poz, I owe you a set of shelves.. lol! But yeah, running is fun, it gets me some much needed exercise. Working in a research lab for so long kind of ruined my fitness, oh well, something to work towards.

3.2 km down, thousands to go. >.>

Eskimos Season Tickets For Sale.

Yeah, I'm seriously considering it.

I'm getting really, really tired of the consistent "shitting of the bed". That's the only thing that's consistent with the current Eskimos, that and the excuse making. I haven't seen the Eskies play a full 60 minute game in about a year.

I'm tired of the constant talk about "something" has to change - but they never change anything.

Fuck it.

If you want to watch a team fold consistently in the 4th quarter of the game, with the lead, with a predictable QB sack on 2nd down, with 10 to go with the Eskimos last touch of the ball in the game, let me know.

Oh so angry...

Fairly upset about something that happened at work today, so yeah, I'm going to talk about something fun to distract me for awhile. lol.

One of the major things I've been trying to figure out for a long time (and I still have some time to think about it) is whether or not to get involved with either Cataclysm or SWtOR when either come out.

At this point, getting SWtOR is a foregone conclusion. I'll be getting that. There would have to be something serious to prevent me from getting that one, like the game not being printed.. lol. The gameplay looks somewhat new and innovative, although, it still looks fairly similar to the average MMO. They unfortunately braught the "Holy Trinity" into the game, however, from what I can tell, its thankfully not a WoW-clone. Alot of what I saw made sense from a lore and gameplay standpoint (Soldier doing ranged tanking instead of the Jedi, etc). It would be interesting to know how the endgame will play out in this game, specifically because its really where the "meat" of an MMO is. STO really failed here in my opinion, since it seemed like they just rushed it out the door without the back end being complete. Whether or not I actually play SWtOR seriously, I dunno. I can't say where I'm going to be personally/professionally by then (roughly Summer 2011 when the end game is going to be the focus). I suppose it really depends if people I know and want to play with go that way. Who am I kidding, I just want to force-strangle someone in PvP. :D

As for Cataclysm, I'm really interested at the new changes. On the surface, it seems like they're going to reducing the spec and gear optimization coefficients of the "How good are you"-equation. I wouldn't mind that, personally. I miss the days where skill and ability was more important than gear. In Wrath, if you had the gear, you could do the "A million monkeys at a million keyboards" approach and win with most encounters. I miss the days of Vanilla, where good players were rewarded, and idiots were kicked from the raid. Actually, to be more honest, I'm pining for the days of pre-nerf Karazhan. Yes, Karazhan. I really enjoyed that place before they nerfed the shit of out it. I'm hoping that it goes that way for the endgame. The only problems I foresee right now with being able to play are the following:

1. Will I have the time? - I'm not sure, I'd like to say that I will, but I guess that depends on where I am with my work. Things are looking fairly positive, but we'll see. Who knows, I might be a father by then. O.o

2. Where to go? - I have about three different places where I could probably play and be fairly comfortable, or at least have a place to hang my hat. Question is, what's going to work out the best?

We'll see. Unfortunately, I'm speculating on speculation.. woot. We'll see what happens in the long run, I guess. I suppose in the mean time, I'll just keep playing 360 when I get a chance, as well as being the Evil DM, tormenting my 4E group.

OH!

That reminds me, I have to inform my 4E group that they got TPK'd for mostly ditching out on the game at the last minute. Amazing how that happens. >.>

The Culture of Losing.

So, another football season, another poor start for the Eskimos.

I feel like I'm watching the same season as last year. Same mistakes, same problems. Nothing ever changes. The problem with the Eskies, again, is the fact that Ricky Ray is the "Sacred Cow" again.

I have no problem with Ricky Ray in terms of a quarterback, he's good at moving the ball, and when he has enough time and protection he performs. However, he's constantly plagued with "inconsistency". I guess if you can call falling apart each and every time a play gets broken, a pass gets dropped, or a big call goes against him being inconsistent. I'd rather say he lacks mental toughness. The sad thing, at least here in Edmonton, is that he's a "feel-good" story. A chip truck driver turned QB. Awesome. That means he's apparently untouchable, well, at least according to the "expert" commentary on 630 CHED.. lol.

Last night, listening to 630 CHED on the way home, the call in show host seemed to think that the only way to fix the Eskimos was to change the play calling in the Red Zone, while leaving Ricky in the mix. I guess if you want more predictable "Truck Routes to the corner" (the nickname we gave to the corner routes that Ricky always throws in the Red Zone) leave Ricky in. Go ahead. We may get lucky if Ricky keeps his head and pulls off a completion. We may win on luck. You know your offense is in trouble if my wife can call the play before the snap.

Ricky moves the ball very well when he's got room at the end of the field for long stretch passes. Awesome. If he doesn't have the skill set to score in the Red Zone, GET HIM OUT in the Red Zone. You have another QB on the sideline that's more than capable of scoring. Even if you don't like Maas, you can't deny that swapping out the QB in the Red Zone would at least confuse the defense enough to make the score easy.

Oh well. I can quote the guy on 630 CHED on saying that Ricky is doing his best.

Heh.. that reminds me of my favorite movie quote:

"Your best? Losers whine about doing their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen."

I wonder how many games we'll lose this year because the management is scared of hurting Ricky's fragile ego.

Anyone want some tickets?