Open and Welcome Thread – June 2021

habryka

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The Open Thread tag is here. The Open Thread sequence is here.

If it’s worth saying, but not worth its own post, here's a place to put it.

The Open Thread tag is here. The Open Thread sequence is here.

Do you guys think it is worth to learn chinese if I'm planning a career in science?

China is becoming more and more influential in the world, plus in 2020 it's published more scientific papers than USA, most of which are not translated, thus being able to read them would be an advantage. (https://www.scimagojr.com/countryrank.php?year=2020)

I'm not sure how to find information about which country puts more money and is progressing faster in molecular biology/biophysics though.

Here is just an example (from a fairly mainstream media source, NPR), of what I was thinking about when it comes to motivation, titled A Daughter's Journey To Reclaim Her Heritage Language, and discussing a third-generation Chinese American who never previously spoke a Chinese language trying to learn at age 30 to reconnect with her roots.

Back in the days (perhaps even not so long ago as the 90s), it feels like this -- along with liberal arts folks, cultural intellectuals like humanities professors -- was far closer to an archetype if not one o... (read more)

2ChristianKl5y

High energy particle accelerator is a phrase that's made up out of other building blocks. A word like entropy on the other hand isn't. I don't think we are at a time where everything that could be discovered on a basic level has words. New scientific paradigms usually need new words and for a Chinese research community to form, funding a community to gather around a new paradigm would be a way to do it.

5lsusr5y

I am curious too how this will play out. Lingua francas tend to be sticky, but they also tend to follow the world's dominant power.