I had an EE graduate degree (systems, dsp, control...) and returned to school for a physical chemistry graduate degree. Initially was nervous about my first QM class but as Hamming noted so much of the math is similar.
And something else for any future intelligent species:
Today, fossils are dug up and flown around the world to museums etc. We publish but if that storage doesn't last or is undecipherable, future civilizations might have an interesting adventure trying to reconstruct the world of 100's of millions of years before our time.
I wonder if there has been any consideration of this or attempts at placing long-lived simple markings to guide?
This might be a stupid question, but, airplanes are computerized, can they be programmed such-that they simply won't fly into buildings, cities, restricted airspace, etc..
And given the possibility some interviewers experiencing their own imposter syndrome, around being qualified to assess qualifications, perhaps that could explain some of the questions too.
"naming is the origin of all particular things" - Tao Te Ching.
That quote, first page, stopped me in my tracks for a long time.
I often recall it when I'm tempted by the naming (categorization, abstracting, ...) of some X imagining I understand more about it than I actually do. Similar to as you note, I think.
Yeah, back then we would spend massive amount of time hanging around with friends, with few distractions. Cruising was popular, confined to one block, and lots of people, because if you strayed from those physical locations, there was little way to reconnect with the group.
"There is a duality between zero and infinity, expressed in the elementary identity 1/0 = ∞ . If one side of the duality does not occur in nature, also the other side ought not to."
It wasn't clear to me that the second sentence was sufficiently proved. At first glance it seems reasonable, but the authors went a bit too fast past that claim for me.
I enjoy combining piano and computer programming and have so many musical composition and animation ideas but they are all fragments of completion. For the past year I've been trying to finish some and put on youtube but would enjoy doing more. Then I might actually improve too!
I learned to program on my own then studied EE and hard sciences in school. Figured I already knew everything about programming. Hubris of my youth. I'd have taken more CS courses in college.
I worked as an engineer at a startup early in my career (looong time ago). Company went under, stock => $0.
However, I am extremely grateful for that time. It taught me a wide range of non-technical skills that have proved invaluable throughout my career.
Most of those non-technical skills revolved around leadership opportunities, being given huge responsibilities vs. my skill/age (and having to figure it all out on my own), and getting to participate in many aspects of the business.
It ingrained in me ownership; and I've never been able to shake bringing that startup mentality to everything I do at a larger company.
Just my experience. Much of this perhaps is achievable while at larger companies, depending on the situation.
I have the book the author of that article wrote (The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw). Its an interesting book. Historical perspective on ideas is fascinating.