what are your majors/degrees/areas of talent?

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What is area is comes most naturally to you?
Sciences 35%  35%  [ 18 ]
Engeneiring 8%  8%  [ 4 ]
Architecture or technical drawing/design 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Mathmatics 4%  4%  [ 2 ]
History of a specigic time/place/people 4%  4%  [ 2 ]
Modern History 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Pre-Modern History 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Prehistory 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Literature 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Psychology 4%  4%  [ 2 ]
Sociology 2%  2%  [ 1 ]
Anrthopology 4%  4%  [ 2 ]
Art 6%  6%  [ 3 ]
Music 4%  4%  [ 2 ]
Writing - research papers or nonfiction 4%  4%  [ 2 ]
Writing - creative 8%  8%  [ 4 ]
Languages 12%  12%  [ 6 ]
Other 8%  8%  [ 4 ]
Total votes : 52

cybershooter
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29 Aug 2008, 11:49 am

I voted sciences, as that is what I'm currently in and enjoy the most. I could have put down languages, as I first did a diploma in German, then an undergrad degree in linguistics, with French and Sanskrit as minors. I had to learn Latin, all of which which I enjoyed a lot. I've just finished an MSc in neuroscience, and am going to carry on working in the lab where i did my research project. I'm thinking of doing a PhD next, possibly in the field of neuroinflammation :geek:

I like logic, rational thinking, computers and IT. I can't imagine myself thinking irrationally, and find that conclusions based on irrational thinking are wrong.



chever
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29 Aug 2008, 5:37 pm

Awesomelyglorious wrote:
chever wrote:
Why?

Economics (at least positive economics) is probably a 'harder' science than psychology.

On some level I can agree, the major issue is that hard science usually refers to the physical sciences, and economics is considered more of a social science. With psychology there are the elements of neuroscience, but not so much with economics, so despite the much greater mathematical rigor of econ, it still is less considered less of a hard science.


Oh I see

Well from my perspective, positive economics and, maybe to some degree, normative economics, are harder than psychology

It's the mathematical content that defines hardness for me

cybershooter wrote:
I like logic, rational thinking, computers and IT. I can't imagine myself thinking irrationally, and find that conclusions based on irrational thinking are wrong.


You might like decision theory


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PunkyKat
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29 Aug 2008, 11:46 pm

When I go to college I am going to major in veternary medicine or whatever I need to major in to be a vet. Microbiology maybe.



darkwhispersdale
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30 Aug 2008, 2:42 pm

I voted science though Art, any of the History topics and Languages probably would have been close as well.



cybershooter
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30 Aug 2008, 7:12 pm

chever wrote:
Awesomelyglorious wrote:
chever wrote:

cybershooter wrote:
I like logic, rational thinking, computers and IT. I can't imagine myself thinking irrationally, and find that conclusions based on irrational thinking are wrong.


You might like decision theory


Yeah, you're probably right. Know a good intro?



chever
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30 Aug 2008, 7:43 pm

cybershooter wrote:
chever wrote:

cybershooter wrote:
I like logic, rational thinking, computers and IT. I can't imagine myself thinking irrationally, and find that conclusions based on irrational thinking are wrong.


You might like decision theory


Yeah, you're probably right. Know a good intro?


Decision theory is a pretty broad field plus I don't know your mathematical background.

But assuming any level of numeracy, Elementary Decision Theory is a good choice. If you know the material in the first few chapters, you can skip it altogether.

There's a preview here: http://books.google.com/books?id=U9yQVLHLgT4C

Generally speaking, the publisher, Dover, has a very good reputation for selling books that are concise, informative, lucid and cheap.

You may also be interested in game theory, which is closely related to decision theory, in which case I can recommend several texts.


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31 Aug 2008, 12:31 am

chever wrote:
Oh I see

Well from my perspective, positive economics and, maybe to some degree, normative economics, are harder than psychology

It's the mathematical content that defines hardness for me

Makes sense, and economics is more mathematical than psych, however, I don't think that "hardness" typically refers to mathematical content so much as closeness to physical things.

I am interested in knowing more about game theory though, anything you'd recommend?



chever
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31 Aug 2008, 2:16 am

Awesomelyglorious wrote:
Makes sense, and economics is more mathematical than psych, however, I don't think that "hardness" typically refers to mathematical content so much as closeness to physical things.

I am interested in knowing more about game theory though, anything you'd recommend?


The Compleat Strategyst is not a very formal introduction at all, but it is lucid and, surprisingly, conveys a lot of information for its format.

I have Games, Theory and Applications (Thomas); it's good, but very formal. Not really what I'd call shitter reading; in fact, it's almost a reference text.

Most operations research texts and many discrete mathematics (aka finite mathematics) and economics texts contain sections on game theory. But sometimes these are very short. The Hillier and Lieberman OR text really only has a few pages, but pointers to other books. I can list them here if you like. (The Compleat Strategyst was one of them.)

There is relatively not much good material on the Internet about game theory for some reason. I search around for online mathematical texts a lot. Of the 49 books currently on the math wikia list, I added 45 and still have a lot to go.

http://math.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_free ... ame_theory

Only two! The Ferguson text is very good for your purposes though.


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Nan
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31 Aug 2008, 10:33 am

Economics. Go to the web page of any major university (Penn State, Northwestern, UCB, Princeton, Yale, UCSD, etc.) and go to the Economics dept page, click on the faculty links, you can read up on what's happening in the field there. The time-to-publication in the Econ field is very slow (it takes several years to get published, typically) so you will be able to see the work-in-progress at those sites long before it hits the published press.

Enjoy. :wink:



AnonymousAnonymous
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31 Aug 2008, 5:28 pm

I currently do not have a major, but these two are being considered.
Countries where this discipline is taught is attached.


Political Science: New Zealand, Ecuador, The Netherlands, Egypt
England, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Australia, Hungary,
Denmark, South Africa, Costa Rica, Portugal, and Spain


Foreign Languages: Chile, Austria, Egypt, Ecuador, Ireland, Italy,
Peru, Mexico, Tanzania, New Zealand, Costa Rica,
Ghana, Hungary, Botswana, and Spain


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Awesomelyglorious
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31 Aug 2008, 7:39 pm

chever wrote:
The Compleat Strategyst is not a very formal introduction at all, but it is lucid and, surprisingly, conveys a lot of information for its format.

I might check this out.

Quote:
I have Games, Theory and Applications (Thomas); it's good, but very formal. Not really what I'd call shitter reading; in fact, it's almost a reference text.

I'd prefer the less formal reading as if I read, it is likely going to be casual.

Quote:
Most operations research texts and many discrete mathematics (aka finite mathematics) and economics texts contain sections on game theory. But sometimes these are very short. The Hillier and Lieberman OR text really only has a few pages, but pointers to other books. I can list them here if you like. (The Compleat Strategyst was one of them.)

I know, I have read about game theory some from microeconomics books and things like that. Meh, that is alright, I was only looking for some possible recommendations. Not trying to get every recommendable thing out of there.
Quote:
There is relatively not much good material on the Internet about game theory for some reason. I search around for online mathematical texts a lot. Of the 49 books currently on the math wikia list, I added 45 and still have a lot to go.

http://math.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_free ... ame_theory

Only two! The Ferguson text is very good for your purposes though.

Yeah, I know, I think most people are interested in bigger problems, and ones more easily expressed in light, simple ideas. Game theory is a branch of mathematics, so this can make it more of an issue. The Ferguson text also has the more annoying set up.



Creeper
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02 Sep 2008, 9:15 pm

Creative writing!

I was interested in mechanics as a kid but I chose to "live" in the worlds of my favorite tv shows and books, giving me a honed sense of imagination.



Casidhe
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03 Sep 2008, 9:45 pm

I have studied all kinds of things:

I am a registered Respiratory Therapist, which involved lots of biology and physiology and almost more math than I could handle.
I have a diploma in Equine Science, my true life's passion
And I also have some undergrad work in psychology, philosophy, and English (composition mostly)

I would love to study more philosophy and psych if I can ever afford to be a student again.



pineapple
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04 Sep 2008, 3:58 pm

Creative writing is my best talent, but I don't know how to do it for a living...and I'm not sure if I'd even want to. But I think my blog is pretty good... :wink: