this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2026
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Read ages ago that at MIT or wherever they taught rocket science they would say "it's just rocket science, it's not music theory." No clue if that's actually true tho
I always thought things like music theory and biology were harder because it's often words and classifications given to things before they were codified and then when you learn the actual theory it's like "well, this thing is named identically to that other piece of theory over there because we used to think they were the exact same but actually they couldn't be more different". Chemistry can be similar but has a much more rigid structure than music theory and biology.
Physics at least tends to start with math and connects to theory later.
Genetics is especially bad, since newly-discovered genes are named based on their function, while genes that were discovered in the early days of genetics research were instead named based on what happens to the body when they don't work, since we didn't know enough about biology back then to determine what their exact function was. This leads to situations like how one of the prominent genes featured in eye development is called "Retina and Anterior Neural Fold Homeobox," and another is called "Eyeless."
The one I always heard as a failed physicist cum engineer was "rocket science is 80% plumbing"
I've heard the same about cum engineering
It's very likely that most people that study rocket engineering can't learn music theory at all. Just like the other way around.
Actually the opposite is true in my experience. Many engineers, physicists, and especially mathematicians are interested in music theory and/or play instruments themselves.
A classmate of mine, who is like the “Kyle” stereotype of monster energy drinking gamer, is also an engineering student who happens to be a virtuoso on the cello.
I think four members of my research lab play piano, two can play the violin iirc, and our advisor plays guitar.
as a scientist myself i can guarantee you i've always looked down on music theory because it takes the fun out of it.
It’s also a very arbitrary, Eurocentric, and not grounded in actual biological or physical fact. It’s not „sounds that sound good universally across humanity“, despite how its adherents present it.
So, you have never read Hesse it seems
Pretty much the essence of at least quite some books of him is, that music and math are basically the same thing