About
NOVA visits Prof. Peter Fisher for a discussion on Dark Matter.
The Fisher Files
In a single day, we perform over two hundred small tasks: dial a phone, sharpen a
pencil, open the computer, begin to type a paragraph. How do we connect all those small
task to the larger aims of our lives? Are we even aware of what the larger aims of our
lives are?
I have thought more and more about making and maintaining the connections between the
large and small. Sometimes, these connections just fall apart for me and I find myself
doing useless and irrelevant things. Other times, some connections are there and strong
and I have an almost spiritual sense of mindfulness. The way the connections help me
translate large aims to small tasks is not so much about productivity as they are about
relevance.
My ten episode PodCast talks about these connections between the large and small and how
to make time to think about them, create them and maintain them. I don’t have many
answers but I do have lots of questions and pointers to others exploring the large-small
connection. I plan to emphasize the practical and talk about ways of handling things
like e-mail, interruptions, travel and the balance between work and family, always with
an eye toward the strengthening the large-small connections. Cool technologies will be
emphasized.
I’m aiming at physicists, specifically those just starting the most challenging part of
the career: senior graduate students and junior post docs, but there will be plenty for
everyone academia. “The Fisher Files” will post on Sunday nights and will be twenty to
thirty minutes long. In addition to the main topic, there will be a five minute
MindFeed about what is going on in physics last week. Listener comments by voice,
e-mail or direct post to the website is more than welcome.
