I kind of envy physicists because I feel like they have the kind of math skills that lets them figure out anything from first principles.
That's not quite what it feels like from the inside either. It's more like, "You're looking at this enormous noodle soup! Well, let's see what we can say with certainty, and let's poke around for useful approximations. If that doesn't work, I got nuffin'."
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.
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