this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago (11 children)

My fav was if you could shoot someone in water. Turns out that just 3 ft. of water was enough to stop a 50 cal! So as great of a film as Saving Private Ryan was, the opening scene where bullets wiz thru the sea killing soldiers was pure fiction.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Kind of related but there was a video on StarTalk a couple days ago on NGT rebutting a Joe Rogan interview with Terrence Howard. It's was joyous watching a breakdown in how science works while very politely calling TH an absolute moron.

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 5 months ago (7 children)

This is why most skepticism based programs don't work, and Mythbusters did.

They didn't try to be smug about it, they didn't belittle people who believed in the myths, they never brought religion and politics into it, and the biggest pitfall they avoided: They never pretended that the "science was settled" and that they "already knew everything", they simply did the research and went where the data took them.

Too many skepticism based programs seem to think the scientific method is running into a church, yelling "FAKE!", and then running outside to hurl insults at passersby.

Mythbusters didn't do that, they skipped the dogma and went straight to the science.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

You mean the laundry detergent commercial?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

One of my most favorite shows growing up.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 months ago (2 children)

The last comments in the image are exactly right.

It bothers me when I screw up and someone says "I fixed that for you" without explaining how I screwed things up, or how they fixed it.

If I'm wrong, I get it. I'm not always right, nobody can be right 100% of the time, IMO, that's impossible. But when I'm wrong, let me learn so I can avoid being wrong in the same way twice.

IMO, schools have failed us, they teach us what we should know but don't encourage us to always be curious and always be learning. It's okay to make mistakes, and it's okay to be wrong. What's not okay is never learning from your mistakes, and being so stubborn that when you are wrong, you double down on being wrong instead of seeking more information so you can be correct next time.

Being wrong is always condemned. You get low grades, you fail and get held back in some cases.... It's been rare that any teacher I've ever had would review anything from a test after its over. A very small number went back and said "a lot of people had trouble with x question from the test, here's the answer and this is why it's the correct answer". IMO, that should be way more common.... Review the test after its over and let the class know that low marks are not the end, they're a wonderful beginning to learning. If you know what you don't know and you have even the smallest amount of ability and willingness to improve, with the addition of opportunities to learn that, then you will always succeed.

Be successful. Get a bunch of shit wrong.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I'm glad you addressed the aversion to being wrong because I think that's part of the core of what's causing so many problems in America today (and maybe other places, but I can only speak to my own familiarity).

I feel like as a society we have created an environment where we demonstrate and reinforce to children from like kindergarten onward that the worst thing you can possibly do is be wrong. Someone who is always right is seen as smart, capable...in short, a winner.

Conversely, if you're ever wrong, that completely and permanently undoes your entire argument/position and not only that, but you're branded as unreliable/untrustworthy, uninformed, stupid, dishonest, or naive.

We expect perfection in correctness, and while being right is the expectation, being wrong is a permanent black mark that is treated as a more serious negative than being right is considered as a positive. Nobody just assumes that if you're right about one thing that you'll be right about all things, but if you get something wrong, there's a very real shift toward double-checking or verifying anything else that comes after.

We even tease friends, family, and children for mispronouncing words or singing incorrect lyrics. Basically, being incorrect is so stigmatized that we reinforce to everyone, children and adults alike, that it's better to not even try...not even make an attempt or join into a conversation...than to risk being wrong. When someone is wrong we use words like "admit" like it's a crime, or admit defeat...and that just creates an environment where nobody is ever encouraged to speak up about anything for fear of (gasp!) being wrong.

And now we're coming full circle on this at the highest levels, with our leaders being blatantly and objectively wrong...and absolutely dead set on avoiding having to admit that at all costs, setting a precedent that has oozed into even casual discourse among regular people. It seems like it used to be that being wrong was bad enough, but to dig in and refuse to admit it was even worse...lately it seems that admitting you were wrong is now even worse than doubling down on it...so now we have a situation where we can't even agree on basic facts because one or more sides will be wrong but would rather insist on their position than just acknowledge​ they were incorrect.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

You're hitting on every point I could make.

My advice to anyone reading, and wanting to be okay in being wrong, the first step is admitting you don't know something. Even if it's something you should know. For example if you're considered to be an "expert" or at least very knowledgeable about something and someone asks you about that specific thing, but it's not something you know, avoid making things up, or trying to derive an answer from what you do know. Explain that you're not sure what the right answer is, but you'll figure it out, then do some research to figure it out. Don't go off the cuff and start informing people of what you presume it is based on what you know, without knowing for sure.

The next step is when someone contradicts what you believe to be true, hear them out, then do whatever lookups and research you need to figure out if they're right, or you're right. Don't immediately tell them they're wrong, just listen, then find the truth and go from there.

The other thing I do, is I stay away from absolute statements as much as I can. Instead of saying that this thing I know is absolute and true, I preface it with qualifying statements like "I believe...." Eg, "I believe you need to use that switch over there to do the thing" rather than "use that switch to do the thing". If you're wrong then it was qualified as an uncertainty which can make a correction sting that much less.

Finally, always pursue the truth above all else. The point shouldn't be whether you are right or wrong, the point is getting and giving true information to/from others. When getting seemingly true information from someone, trust but verify anything you're told before passing that information along, whenever possible.

Always be learning, always be seeking the truth, always verify the statements of others. After a while, you'll find that you're right far more often than when you're wrong... Having that kind of track record will help in your ability to handle the times that you're found to be wrong and you'll have a much easier time with it.

The whole thing is a process, so don't beat yourself up over it. You will falter and catch yourself doing things wrong and making assumptions and providing information you later determine to be wrong. It will happen. Learn the correct information and move forward. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

There's a ton more that I could say on the matter, but I think that's the core points.

For me, I got a huge wake-up call while working at a large software provider doing end user support. I went to the escalation team and asked them about a problem, and they asked me about some of the details, when I provided them, they questioned "did you verify this? Or did you just take the customers word for it?".... I didn't verify the information. They sent me back to verify the situation before they would engage on the matter, and IIRC, it ended up being one of the assumptions that the end user, or I made, which wasn't configured correctly, that caused the problem. I managed to avoid needing escalation. From then on, "trust but verify" was a constant mantra. I've been growing and learning ever since.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I only had time to read a few paragraphs, but yeah. That's a good one.

I'll try to return to this and finish this reading.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago

MythBusters will always and forever be a treasure.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I miss Mythbusters. These days, the closest thing is Maker youtube channels like Failed Mythbuster Allen Pan, Simone Gertz, William Osman, StyroPyro, ElectroBoom, Stuff Made Here.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Then there's Michael Reeves to represent the chaos goblin contingent...

[–] [email protected] 83 points 5 months ago (3 children)

The Elephant and Mice episode was so wild, because if I remember correctly, the elephant didn't act afraid of the mouse, it acted afraid it would step on and harm the mouse; as if the elephant had a basic understanding and concern for the wellbeing of another creature conspicuously lacking in many human beasts

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

It's amazing how intelligent and emotionally mature elephants are. It's not wonder why people were willing to believe that "Elephants have a moon religion!" line for so long, it seems believable with how often elephants seem to act like chonky humans with a trunk instead of arms.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Yep. Elephants are wonderfully kind creatures. With my very limited understanding of elephant body language, it didn't look like an 'oh no, im scared' it was more 'oh hey little guy, didn't see ya there. ill get outta your way.'

[–] [email protected] 31 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (3 children)

Just smart as hell. This video makes me wonder if elephants legit have a sense of humor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VOvEFHDOaU

Animal behavior can be difficult to interpret (and even when descriptions come from experts, I often find myself asking "yeah, but how do we really know that?"), but this looks very close to being like someone who's known for lighthearted pranks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

New core memory unlocked, thanks!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

Oh my goooooood. This is so delightful, you can almost see the smirk. Thank you for sharing. <3

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Being excited about being wrong because either way it's information

This literally is the basis of science that I think a lot of people misunderstand. Science doesn't prove anything conclusively. What scientists try to do is disprove the leading theory and when they can't, it adds to the pile of evidence that increases the likelyhood of the leading theory being correct. Even things that we're very, very, very sure are correct are still like 99.99999999999...% confirmed.

A good example that's often used to show how it's more important to try to disprove a theory rather than trying to prove it is the existence of black swans. It was long thought that all swans were white and every time someone saw a white swan, that idea was reinforced. But when someone actually went out of their way to go looking for a black swan, they found a bunch of them!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I feel it is my pedantic duty to inform you that 99.9... is equal to 100.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Only if you're rounding. 99.9 is still 1/10 of a digit separated from 100, but it's not equal to 100 for good reason.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] -2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It only signifies that the post-decimal nines are repeating infinitely. It still doesn't make 99.99999...=100 unless you intentionally round the value for some nondescript reason, and even then, rounding off isn't changing the value, only the perceived value for mathematical simplicity, not objective accuracy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

".9..." is repeating, but rational. So it's actually "1" . Let's do the math.

.9... / 3 = .3...

.3... = 1/3

1/3 x 3 = 3/3

.9... = 3/3

3/3 = 1

.9... = 1

Still not convinced? We'll use algebra instead of fractions.

0.9... = x

10x = 9.9...

10x - 0.9... = 9

9x = 9

x = 1

[–] [email protected] -3 points 5 months ago (3 children)

So why is it represented as 99.999... Instead of just 100? It's because you're forgetting the fact that fractions and decimals are infinite depending on the magnification. 99.9999... literally goes on forever. That means that no matter how close it gets to 100, it will never be equivalent to 100.

It's like how you can know infinitely nothing and still think you know everything. 👀🫠

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 5 months ago (4 children)

For anyone missing the show, there was a wonderful project called Streamlined Mythbusters where fans edited each episode down to remove the filler, pre and post ad recaps, etc. They usually also would reorder things so each individual myth was seld contained.

It's wonderful, but some episodes legitimately got cut down to be 16 minutes long with no real content loss, which can be kind of jarring.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

Oh god, I forgot, it was during the "REALITY TV!" boom where marketing and hype had more substance than the shows themselves, and if the show had substance.... edit it like it is Reality TV...

I do not miss that.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago (1 children)

There is also Smyths, which is the same thing.

Unfortunately Mythbusters edits have a tendency to get pulled from the typical video sharing sites rather quickly. I wish someone would make a torrent of the entire series edited this way, and call it a day.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

What, like the pinned post on the smyths reddit page?

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Thanks for the Rec! I definitely miss the show. Adam's YouTube channel sometimes scratches the itch, but not always.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

That and writing down results.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

"Replicate the circumstances, then replicate the results."

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