Physicist-bashing

Conversations over the past few days have yielded several statements in response to our (me/Chris/Elias) support for reductionist approaches that have benefitted physics immensely. These range from modeler-baiting ('All modeling work is crap... even I can build a crappy model in half-an-hour') to 'Did I hear that right' moments ('I do not believe in reductionism') to the incredible ('modern physics has not helped us at all'). I did expect a defence of non-reductionist approaches, but not by discrediting the efforts of physicists. Apparently, ' a lot of physicists are without jobs now'. !!!. Isn't that where you want to be? Isn't that more a tribute to the fine job physicists have done unravelling incredibly complex questions? No, apparently 'the variability in Biology is so much, those approaches wouldn't pay off' (an obvious reduction to the 'Biology is difficult' defence, see one of my earlier blogs).

So I begin to wonder, this anti-physicist thing must be pretty deep-rooted. Is this jealousy? Is this because... they have more money? No, I know some physicist friends in academia who don't make that much. In fact, it's pretty darn hard to get funding for experimental physics these days. Is it because they have... better social lives? No, they are even more pathetic geeks than we are (to wit, bumper sticker that says 'Flirt Harder, I'm a physicist'). Why?

My theory is that we are jealous... of the way they've applied reductionist approaches to a system that's equally complicated, more basic, with incredible success. Physicists would rather conjure up String theory, a purely mathematical construct, to try and answer deep questions rather than be proud of the complexity of their system. Obviously, they are doing something right... they left themselves without jobs.

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