Readers of this blog ought to be following the news of the Taiwanese-operated cargo vessel Ever Given's blockage of the Suez Canal. Earlier this week, the Financial Times' blog featured an article by Brendan Greeley, speculating on the hydrodynamics of how this event occurred. Though his is not the final word on this episode, there is one passage in his piece worth memorializing here:
Sailors talk about hydrodynamics the way CEOs talk about macroeconomics: they either treat it with mystical reverence, or they claim to understand it and are wrong. Unlike with macroeconomics, though, if you know what you’re doing you can test the propositions of hydrodynamics on actual, physical models in a lab. As in: you build little boats and then you drag them through the water, in a towing tank. Hydrodynamics is what a five-year old would do, if a five-year old had a PhD.
Bravo, Mr. Greeley!
No comments:
Post a Comment