[Poll]: How Technical Are You?

What's your level of technical comfort?

  • SciFi/SciFact Enthusiast (e.g., keenly follows scientific consumer media)

    Votes: 69 40.1%

  • SciFi/SciFact Enthusiast + basic Sci/Eng Degree (e.g., BSc, BEng)

    Votes: 46 26.7%

  • SciFi/SciFact Enthusiast + advanced Sci/Eng Degree (e.g., MSc/PhD)

    Votes: 18 10.5%

  • SciFi/SciFact Enthusiast + advanced Sci/Eng Degree + work in Science research

    Votes: 9 5.2%

  • None of the above (e.g., just like gaming)

    Votes: 30 17.4%
  • Total voters
    172

HenryS

HenryS
PhD in mathematics, assistant professor in mathematics at a US state university. My research is in 3-dimensional geometry and topology.
 

Darren Grey

Darren Grey
HenryS said:
PhD in mathematics, assistant professor in mathematics at a US state university. My research is in 3-dimensional geometry and topology.
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3-dimensional geometry? Does that mean you get to play with Elite wireframe models and pretend it's work? ;)
 

Caribou

Caribou
Comp Sci to Masters, Worked in the industry for 25 years and toying with the idea of doing a second undergrad degree in maths for fun.... ok geek and proud of it...
 

Cosmos

C
I've a MEng in Software Engineering, and an MSc in Mathematics and have worked on projects in the defense industry, aviation, and banking(srry about that, not anymore!).

I'm also working on my Phd from the University of Life but its not going so well of late. :(

Its great to see so many bright bods this game has attracted, 'qualified' or not.
 

Cosmos

C
Caribou said:
Comp Sci to Masters, Worked in the industry for 25 years and toying with the idea of doing a second undergrad degree in maths for fun.... ok geek and proud of it...
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Nothing wrong with that bro. I listen to guys like Richard Feynman and I consider doing a degree in Physics at the OU. The pursuit of knowledge is the ultimate goal IMO.. Whats the other challenge? Sitting around bean counting and accumulating wealth? After the first billion surely people get bored.

 

Cmdr Eagleboy

Cmdr Eagleboy
BSc in age of 33 after long battle of real life, 10 years in Linux/Windows/OS X administration before that. Trying to move on programming field and trying to master my hacking skills for 4 years now, mostly in C and Python, but know lot of other languages too. Open source and free software advocate. Reason why I backed KS was Raspberry Pi planet post about ED KS.

Sci-fi....captured my imagination since I was kid and propably major reason of being in IT in first place. Loved books...Stanislav Lem, Isaac Asimov, etc. Not huge fan of Star Wars, always liked more plausable sci-fi, but loved some space drama and interesting use of technology as story devices. Stargate franchise, loved all three series, still wanting to know SGU actual ending. Doctor Who, again, more of fun, romance and drama and clever use of sci-fi metaphors.
 
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Frank

Frank
withnail said:
I've got a degree in civil and structural engineering (and that's what I do now) so nothing to do with science. I make my scientific friends cringe when I use non-SI units (cm^4 is a favourite).
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What are you using tesseractic centimeters for? Are you building pool tables for the Thargoid and Fer-de-Lance?
 

Caribou

Caribou
Cosmos said:
Nothing wrong with that bro. I listen to guys like Richard Feynman and I consider doing a degree in Physics at the OU. The pursuit of knowledge is the ultimate goal IMO.. Whats the other challenge? Sitting around bean counting and accumulating wealth? After the first billion surely people get bored.
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lol indeed - I did my undergrad in Chemistry and so I have always hankered after Dr Wookies Job (well actually I love molecules and shape rather than his end of the scale but you know what I mean) - one day I will :)
 

Calebe

C
I don't try to analyze when reading a book and think you know that isn't possible. I really don't care, if the author says it, it is literary license and I just either enjoy the story and the characters in it or I don't.

If I try to think why something won't work they are talking about, what is the point? I want to read their take and enjoy the story after all it is science fiction. I think some forget the word fiction and try to make it, science fact based in a fictional universe they want accurately described as they see it. No thanks, if the science is wrong but the story is fun. Then I enjoy it for what it is. After all I understand the word fiction in the context. They don't claim to be scientifically accurate, but want to tell an exciting story. If they do, and it is a page turner then so much the better.

Calebe
 

Rogehans

Rogehans
Played Elite as a lad on the C64 and speccy, Frontier on the A500 and wing commander/privateer/hardwar on PC so I took a great interest in PC's got a job in computer hardware in 1996 building/refurbishing did that for 13 years now i have a little buisness from home building/repairing/upgrading desktops/laptops.
Never took any degrees/exams but I have years upon years of knowledge over the years probably built/repaired/refurbished 60k+ PC's/Laptops an average of 10 a day
I take an interest in anything scientific but to be quite honest alot goes right over my head.
Got divorced when I lost my job, lost my house/car the only thing I have left is my sanity (just) my 86 year old mother and my 18 year old cat.
I am quite happy and content nearly got my ultimate PC to start my own empire on ED :D
Take care guys
Roger
Rogehans
 

withnail

withnail
Lol. It's called the second moment of area and we use it to check the deflection of beams generally.

So, yes, it could be used to design parts of a pool table!

Edit: and I know it's not a proper moment and measured in Nm but there you go.
 
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Susimetsa

Susimetsa
Not a physicist or an engineer, but I did enjoy physics and math in school and have voluntarily studied a lot of the stuff involving space exploration, star systems etc. My real degree is a doctorate in education science, which perhaps also explains my liking of scientifically accurate thinking.

Calebe said:
If I try to think why something won't work they are talking about, what is the point? I want to read their take and enjoy the story after all it is science fiction. I think some forget the word fiction and try to make it, science fact based in a fictional universe they want accurately described as they see it. No thanks, if the science is wrong but the story is fun.
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There are actually different genres here. Some enjoy Hard sci-fi, or SF, which is based on hard science and sometimes even involves science theory (Old Heinlein's books with physics, Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy with the whole psychology thing) while others enjoy simple adventure stories - so called soft sci-fi, or even (science) fantasy in space (Star Wars).
 
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Sparticus

Sparticus
I have done both Electrical and Mechanical Engineering - and now work in I.T. I love my SciFi - whether accurate or not - as long as it is not too unbelievable.
 
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