What would you do if you walked into your oral Ph.D. Dissertation Defense and you noticed the Chairman of the Defense board was @davepamn?
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M$3 Answers
Second, if I made it that far so as to be ready for my oral (no pun intended), Davepamn would be the least of my worries. Dave has admitted to harvesting his questions from books he reviews. Chances are by that time I've either read or studied those books myself.
Third thing, I'd keep reminding myself that while I enjoy a challenge and am prone to try to answer any tossed my direction, I need to stay focused on the original subject and rather than follow a diversion, keep casting back to the original topic.
With these things in mind I'd have a blast! Then after, maybe, I'd send a thank you card signed @Silverhammer
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M$Although I really have no idea what an Oral Ph.D Dissertation Defense is (really) I do know that all the successes in my life have come when I was both willing and able to confront my fears and take on a difficult challenge head on, prepared or not, put my head down and literally like a battering ram just do my absolute best.
This method has left me battered and bruised physically, mentally, and spiritually and sometimes I have failed in the attempt but in the end I have either been supremely rewarded with a great success or have been rewarded with another tool in my box to use in the next coming soon attempt and the same challenge.
Yes bring on the Quantum Brain - Man or machine. Win or lose I win.
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M$
Okay ... that is a good bit of information to go into this with.
I will just do it fail and do it again and again and again and again until I succeed.
The fear of failing has constrained me before and I will not let it do that to me ever again.
We all learn that about the Davepamn Quantum brain questions.. usually the hard way .. they are never ever a one step and done question.. there are always follow ups and more follow ups..
To give you an example of how a @davepamn dissertation defense grilling would go, look at this question: http://www.mahalo.com/answers/science-and-mathematics/explain-the-equation-1-2-mv-2
I jumped on this question pretty eagerly because I have a solid handle on Newtonian mechanics. He insidiously turned it into a relativity question, which I'm not nearly as familiar with. And then, finally, his last couple of questions were a red herring, which he didn't expect me to answer (if I was answering correctly).
I think the grilling would go just like that and it would end with a final question that you were unsure about and he would laugh because that would be the whole point.
After spending 4 years researching and writing a dissertation, you'll know it :) However, the typical defense is not just a test as to what is in your written document, but also different ways to think about it. They will test candidates on what else could be included in the document, and different ways of thinking about problems.
And this is why I'll never get a PhD. I am a master of knowing where to look to find the right information, and not knowing the right information off the top of my head.
I do not have a Ph.D., but as I understand it, an oral Ph.D. dissertation defense is basically the final hurdle to obtaining your doctorate. Weeks beforehand, you submit your written dissertation to the defense committee, so they have time to review it. Then you go in and they (full, often distinguished professors) grill you with questions to make sure you really know your stuff and are Ph.D. material. You have to know your answers from your brain, I think, and aren't allowed to go to reference books to answer questions.
One story I heard involved a guy who was asked a math question, and he said "I'm not exactly sure but I could look up the approach if I really needed it." and the Prof said "Well, it looks like you really need it now but you don't know it." and I think he failed because he didn't know from his own brain.
But I would be far more worried if I was on trial for something, and took my place in the stand only to then discover that prosecuting counsel was . . . @davepamn!
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M$
So he wouldn't have the upper hand by knowing which topics of his I had trouble answering. :)
I went for a job interview one time and on the way some guy cut in front of me and made me slam on my brakes to avoid hitting him. I felt like honking and flipping him off but I thought to myself, "what if that turned out to be my new boss". So I didn't.
I was called into the HR department for my interview and sitting behind the desk was the driver of that car! He wasn't going to be my new boss but he was the head of HR. I didn't identify myself to him at that time either.
Oh okay, I thought you did something to anger @davepamn and you were afraid he'd get revenge on you, sort of like your cutting off example (if you had flipped him off)