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8.1 Tacit Knowledge in Theoretical Physics

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8.1 Tacit Knowledge in Theoretical Physics e Sociology of eoretical Physics by u gnacio eyes alindo Supervised by Prof. Harold Maurice Collins & Dr. Robert John Evans is thesis is submitted to the Cardiff University School of Social Sciences for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy (Social Sciences) eptember 2011 Declaration is work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not con- currently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signature Date Statement 1 is thesis is being submitted in partial fullment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. Signature Date Statement 2 is thesis is the result of my own independent work and investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. Signature Date Statement 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be immediately made available to outside organisations. Signature Date iii hen heard e learn’d tronomer; hen e proofs, e gures, were ranged in columns before me; hen w shown e charts and e diagrams, to add, divide, and meure em; hen , sitting, heard e tronomer, where he leured wi much applae in e leure-room, ow soon, unaccounble, became tired and sick; i ring and gliding out, wander’d off by myself, n e mystical mot night-air, and om time to time, ook’d up in perfe silence e stars. —Walt Whitman v Acknowledgements is thesis would not have been possible, as always, without the endless support of my father and elf-mother, and my dearest sister Marranela. I would also like to thank all of the Galindo family for their love and affection, particularly Jorgito and Salvador from having delivered me from the clutches of thesis madness just in time; to Jorge and Pilar, and to Elisa for their continued affection. I would also like to thank Ms. Harmony Ghose who has been at my side from be- ginning to the end of my thesis-life; so said a poet to his beloved, “I bring to you with reverent hands, // the books of my numberless dreams”. I would also like to thank the other members of the Ghose family for their kindness and hospitality, stretching from one side of Asia to the other. A most special muito obrigado to my Cardiff família doida, Camila and Tiago, for being there as much more than just friends. Also special thanks to my ‘Milton Keynes’- Cardiff- Southampton connection, S & S, for their support in these last stages. Posh thanks to Polentina for plenty of lateral support, leaness, and an awesome last-minute reference; additional thanks to the rest of the Come Dine with Me, Cardiff Edition group — Pandagirl, Romeo, Kahn, Pinter, the Japanese-guy and Manasi — for crazy conversations, good times and for pillaging my room like a Mongol horde. A special thanks to my dear friends on this side of the Atlantic, Mauricio and Ilse, and on the other side of the Atlantic, Héctor, Arturo, Aline and Ruth. I would like to thank my supervisors Harry and Rob for their insightful criticisms and their guidance in the writing process and for helping me mould this thesis into a sociologically presentable form. I would also like to thank the rest of the KES group for interesting discussions, many of which directly impacted my work. A very special gracias goes to my viva examiners Prof. Adam Hedgecoe and Prof. vii Trevor Pinch for their corrections and suggestions, which have made this a thesis I am proud to call my own, and to Dr. Finn Bowring for leading a most enjoyable viva. I would like to thank the following people their time in allowing to be interviewed, or for informal discussions and support that were crucial to my work: Prof. M. Berry at the University of Bristol; Prof. L. de la Peña, Dr. R. Esquivel, Dr. M. Mondragón, Dr. C. Noguez, Dr. V. Romero and Dr. K. Volke at the UNAM Physics Institute; Dr. G. Mitchison, Dr. D. Tong and Prof. R. Horgan from DAMTP at the University of Cambridge; Prof. M. Disney, Dr. S. Fairhurst and Prof. B. S. Sathyaptakash at Cardiff University; Dr. V. Svetovoy at the University of Twente; Dr. V. Loke at the University of Bremen; Prof. Subir Sarkar at Oxford University. I would also like to thank Ian McEwan for an extremely interesting and unexpected conversation and for pointing me towards Graeme and the Cambridge DAMTP group. I would like to thank Cardiff University for providing me with research funds through the 125 for 125 program, and the CASIMIR Research Networking Program from the European Science Foundation for providing funds for travel and conferences. Finally, I wish to thank the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología for the economic sup- port to make this thesis possible (CONACYT registry number 200945, scholarship number 303749). inalmente, dedico esta tes a mi abuelo a, y a la memoria de la buela. Abstra is thesis is centred around the analysis of how the different groups of specialist ex- perts that make up theoretical physics at large communicate and transmit knowledge between themselves. e analysis is carried out using two sociological frameworks: the Studies in Expertise and Experience (SEE) approach by Collins & Evans (2007), and mechanisms of sociological and institutional trust in the general sociology of science literature. I argue that the communication process is carried out in two ways: through interactional expertise that is based on deep comprehension when the interaction is between micro-cultures that are sociologically closely connected, and through lower forms of knowledge relying on trust for the micro-cultures that are sociologically far apart. Because Collins & Evans’ framework is strongly based on processes of transmission of tacit knowledge, an analysis of the importance of tacit knowledge in physics is carried out to support the thesis. Specic types of tacit knowledge are closely examined to understand how they shape theoretical physics practice. I argue that ‘physical intuition’, one of the guiding principles of all theoretical activity, is in fact a type of tacit knowledge — somatic tacit knowledge — that is familiar to both philosophers and sociologists within the academic literature. e end result is a description of physics that highlights the importance of sociological mechanisms to hold the discipline together, and that permit knowledge to ow from the empirical to the theoretical poles of physics practice, and vice versa. e thesis is supported by unstructured interview material and by the author’s prolonged interaction within theoretical physics professional circles. ix Contents Acknowledgements vii Abstract ix Introduction xv 0 On methodology 1 I e problem of communication in physics 15 1 eoretical and historical background 17 1.1 Sociology and philosophy as tools of analysis . 17 1.2 e inuence of positivism on science studies and physics . 19 1.3 Logical positivism and the early developments in philosophy of science 20 1.4 e birth of sociology of science . 21 1.5 ‘eory’ in sociological accounts of physics . 24 1.6 Two different epistemologies . 27 1.7 Two different denitions of knowledge . 33 1.8 e epistemology of the social analysis of scientic knowledge: thought collectives . 35 1.9 Matching theory and experiment: contemporary philosophy of science 37 2 eoretical styles 39 2.1 eoretical thought styles between theory and experiment: phenomenology . 39 xi 2.2 Sidestepping the philosophy of models . 41 2.3 eories and Truth, Models and Contingency . 43 2.4 Two theoretical styles of phenomenology . 49 2.5 A debate on dark matter: a clash of epistemic styles . 51 2.6 eoretical styles in early quantum theory . 54 2.7 Max Planck, the awkward data-tter . 56 2.8 Einstein the epistemological opportunist . 59 2.9 eoreticians and computers . 64 2.10 Simulations and complexity . 66 2.11 Simulations as strategies to tackle complex physical systems . 69 2.12 Simulations as autonomous domains of practice . 71 2.13 Sociological evidence for simulations’ epistemic autonomy: regress phenomena . 74 3 Bridging the gap between contiguous micro-cultures 79 3.1 e fragmentation of high theory and pure experiment . 79 3.2 Difficulties in migrating from pure-theory to phenomenology . 81 3.3 Differences in epistemic distance . 84 3.4 Languages in theory... in theory . 84 3.5 Collins & Evans’ framework of tacit knowledge . 87 3.6 Types of tacit knowledge . 89 3.7 Interactional expertise and Collins & Evans model of expertise . 91 3.8 Delimiting esoteric expertises . 93 3.9 e ubiquitous universe-set and lower levels of expertise . 95 3.10 e importance of interaction . 96 3.11 Collaboration in small- and mid- scale physics . 99 3.12 Interactional ambassadors in LIGO . 102 3.13 Interactional expertise and management skills . 104 3.14 Breaking down tacit barriers in LIGO . 106 3.15 Complexity and specialisation . 107 3.16 Comparing Collins & Evans’ approach to Galison’s model of commu- nication . 109 3.17 An analysis of the Galison-type trading zone model . 111 3.18 A brief critique of trading zones and linguistic specialisation . 114 3.19 Collins & Evans’ model as an answer to the problem of communication 115 4 Mid- and long-range interactions between micro-cultures 117 4.1 Knowledge exchange between non-interacting micro-cultures . 117 4.2 Trust and autonomy . 118 4.3 You need a bus load of faith to get by . 119 4.4 Laboratories as producers of inscriptions: beer-mat knowedge . 124 4.5 Understanding Latour’s inscriptions within a general model of expertise126 4.6 Popular understanding of experiments . 127 4.7 Primary source knowledge . 129 4.8 Asymmetries between theory and experiment . 130 4.9 Trust as the substratum of long distance interactions between theoret- ical and empirical physics .
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