I roughly agree with that value prop for physics. I’d add that physics is the archetype of the sciences, and gets things right that haven’t necessarily been made a legible part of “the scientific method” yet, so it’s important to study physics to get an intuitive idea of science-done-right beyond what we already know how to explain well. (Gears-level models are a good example here—physics is a good way to gain an intuition for “gears” and their importance, even if that’s not explicitly brought to attention or made legible. Your point about how we use symbols and logic in physics is another good example.)
The main value proposition of 101-level chemistry is to just to understand the basics of stoichiometry, reaction kinetics, and thermodynamics, especially in biological systems. Beyond that, chemistry is one of my dump stats, for good reason: more advanced chemistry (and materials science) tends to have relatively narrow focus on particular domains, like polymers or ceramics or whatever, and doesn’t offer much generalizable knowledge (as far as I can tell).
I roughly agree with that value prop for physics. I’d add that physics is the archetype of the sciences, and gets things right that haven’t necessarily been made a legible part of “the scientific method” yet, so
I would argue that physics can make very accurate quantitative predictions under the right circumstances...and that it nonetheless poses philosophical challenges much more than other quantitave sciences.
I roughly agree with that value prop for physics. I’d add that physics is the archetype of the sciences, and gets things right that haven’t necessarily been made a legible part of “the scientific method” yet, so it’s important to study physics to get an intuitive idea of science-done-right beyond what we already know how to explain well. (Gears-level models are a good example here—physics is a good way to gain an intuition for “gears” and their importance, even if that’s not explicitly brought to attention or made legible. Your point about how we use symbols and logic in physics is another good example.)
The main value proposition of 101-level chemistry is to just to understand the basics of stoichiometry, reaction kinetics, and thermodynamics, especially in biological systems. Beyond that, chemistry is one of my dump stats, for good reason: more advanced chemistry (and materials science) tends to have relatively narrow focus on particular domains, like polymers or ceramics or whatever, and doesn’t offer much generalizable knowledge (as far as I can tell).
I would argue that physics can make very accurate quantitative predictions under the right circumstances...and that it nonetheless poses philosophical challenges much more than other quantitave sciences.