What I learned as a hired consultant to autodidact physicists (2016)
Wow, I love this. What a thoughtful, empathetic project. This passage really stuck out to me--<p>&quot;A typical problem is that, in the absence of equations, they project literal meanings onto words such as ‘grains’ of space-time or particles ‘popping’ in and out of existence. Science writers should be more careful to point out when we are using metaphors. My clients read way too much into pictures, measuring every angle, scrutinising every colour, counting every dash. Illustrators should be more careful to point out what is relevant information and what is artistic freedom. But the most important lesson I’ve learned is that journalists are so successful at making physics seem not so complicated that many readers come away with the impression that they can easily do it themselves. How can we blame them for not knowing what it takes if we never tell them?&quot;<p>Of course, this writing often isn&#x27;t for the layperson, it&#x27;s for an audience who can tell the difference between diagram, artistic license, and metaphor, but even so, it&#x27;s good to think about, especially when communicating science to the general public.