My goodness, what an objectively wrong statement. Was that an attempt at a joke or something?
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Why aren't Spock, Data, LaForge, Dax, etc PhDs?
- Thread starter Sisko_is_my_captain
- Start date
Exactly.
There's something I've wondered about Data going through Starfleet Academy.
He can do things superfast but did he still take four years to graduate? One thing that occured to me is when taking exams. Data zips through the exam in about two minutes while it takes two hours for the rest of the class. Does he just sit there absolutely immobile and unblinking for the remaining 118 minutes? I'd imagine that could get really distracting for his classmates.
Robert
He can do things superfast but did he still take four years to graduate? One thing that occured to me is when taking exams. Data zips through the exam in about two minutes while it takes two hours for the rest of the class. Does he just sit there absolutely immobile and unblinking for the remaining 118 minutes? I'd imagine that could get really distracting for his classmates.
Robert
Out of universe, it's probably a "Why add another extra layer to people's titles when we're not going to use it for anything?"
In universe, probably just a cultural shift against showing off your credentials.
In universe, probably just a cultural shift against showing off your credentials.
Not at all. Although physicians and attorneys and other professional degress do involve more advanced forms of learning, doctors in other areas--physics, mathematics, chemistry, etc.--only have more knowledge as a jumping off point to research. Research is the core of getting a doctorate. This means creating new knowledge. The weight of those doctorates is on the time they spend in the lab, in the archive, in the field, etc., not the time spent taking tests.
As far as I know there are no PhDs around where I'm from. Or they're not called that.
I have heard the title PhD many times and always assumed it has something to do with doctors and medicine and now had to search for what it actually means. It was a quick search, I'm still not sure.... but is PhD a global thing or just in some countries? Maybe that particular title is not so common it went on to Federation ranking?
I have heard the title PhD many times and always assumed it has something to do with doctors and medicine and now had to search for what it actually means. It was a quick search, I'm still not sure.... but is PhD a global thing or just in some countries? Maybe that particular title is not so common it went on to Federation ranking?
I get what you're saying here, but PhD's are not just doing research papers. My dad got a PhD in Mathematics back in the 70's and he used his knowledge to break into the field of computer programming (from which I derive my own career) and formed his own development company building new cell phone tracking systems before GPS was ever widely used. He did these things after he acquired his doctorate. I suspect that there may be several PhD's around here who may also have done more than just research something and publish a dissertation on it.
What I wrote doesn't contradict your father's experiences, nor do his experiences contradict what I wrote. A PhD is a degree, not a job.
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It has nothing to do with the medical profession. Ph.D is short for "A Doctor of Philosophy" and has a long history from Medieval Europe on to present day, though they started out with more emphasis on scholarship than the current focus on production of research or defense of a dissertation. In Finland it appears the term is abbreviated FT (filosofian tohtori) but I could be way off as that is not my native language.
The history is quite interesting, at least to me.
This is a bad thought.
"Filosofian tohtori" means doctor of philosophy. So FT could be the local PhD.
That was new information.
Well, I always like learning new things every day
But, yeah, a Ph.D has a very long history, designed to distinguish from other schools of study, and then reformed by Germany and adopted by other countries. But, that's a brief summary.
Really? What do you think a disseration is (thesis in some countries)? It's a culmination of the original research that you did in a field--the knowledge that you created.
I think the confusion here is that most experiences that people have with those who carry the title "doctor" are with physicians--in the US, that's an MD, not a PhD.Well, I always like learning new things every day
But, yeah, a Ph.D has a very long history, designed to distinguish from other schools of study, and then reformed by Germany and adopted by other countries. But, that's a brief summary.
Well, I always like learning new things every day
Me too. I guess we both learned little bit of something.
For me the word "doctor" suggests something to do with medical profession but there are different kinds of doctors out there.
That's fair and its an understandable confusion.
At most universities, dissertation is the term for the required submission for the doctorate, and thesis refers only to the master's degree requirement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesis#United_States
Different countries and institutions have different takes on that, though, "thesis" sometimes applying to getting your doctorate. Which is pretty confusing. (Captain Pike did a "dissertation" on the Kelvin incident - is he a PhD? Or just a Master and Captain?).
...The fun thing about Finland is that there's no medical profession called "doctor" to confuse things. Medical professionals are "physicians" instead ("lääkäri", absolutely no etymological relation to academia), and their formal titles may range from "licentiate of medicine" to (perhaps multiple) "doctor of medicine" but are not relevant to everyday affairs where most physicians one meets aren't doctors. (It's largely in jest, or in old-fashioned language, that one might call one's physician "tohtori", and generally be wrong about that.)
Likewise, the navy doesn't have the rank of "captain" to confuse things. (It has even more confusing things, in a German-Russian hodgepodge, but at least it dodges that specific issue.)
Timo Saloniemi
...The fun thing about Finland is that there's no medical profession called "doctor" to confuse things. Medical professionals are "physicians" instead ("lääkäri", absolutely no etymological relation to academia), and their formal titles may range from "licentiate of medicine" to (perhaps multiple) "doctor of medicine" but are not relevant to everyday affairs where most physicians one meets aren't doctors. (It's largely in jest, or in old-fashioned language, that one might call one's physician "tohtori", and generally be wrong about that.)
Likewise, the navy doesn't have the rank of "captain" to confuse things. (It has even more confusing things, in a German-Russian hodgepodge, but at least it dodges that specific issue.)
Timo Saloniemi
To me, the essence of a Master's thesis is that you show you are capable of mastering a specialized (but limited) subject in your field on your own, do some limited work on it without receiving extensive tutoring (hence: be able to work on your own, and write a summary of findings (thesis) about it of sufficient quality). The essence of a Ph.D. thesis is that you show you are capable of generating new (scientifically validated) knowledge in a chosen field.
That is, that's just been my personal experience with working on both types of theses in the past. It may be different for other individuals or in other countries.
That is, that's just been my personal experience with working on both types of theses in the past. It may be different for other individuals or in other countries.
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