I couldn't help noticing how discouraged you were with the world last night. I thought about it a little, and the following occurred to me.
Once upon a time, scientists were heroes. The space race, walking on the moon, better and better methods of cooking, communication, transport, clean air energy...If there was a problem, people looked to the scientists to fix things. They were placed on a pedestal like Gods.
Then it turned out that there were problems that couldn't be fixed by engineers or physicists or chemists. Suddenly, that pedestal was knocked out from underneath them, and they were then responsible for all manner of horrible shit...Most of which were actually the same things they'd been lauded for, like nuclear power. Nuclear power didn't change, the public perception of it changed when they tore down their science gods.
This in fact led to science itself being dragged through the mud...Sometimes by religious fanatics who didn't like the answers science provided in the first place, and sometimes by people who thought they were "doing science", but were actually only adding to the stigma (economists, for example) by smearing the label "science" with whatever wrong-headed shit they were pushing.
And then 40 years go by. Suddenly, all manner of cool shit is happening. Possible "warp drive" technology. Autofabricators. New and better medicine. Vat-grown organs. Artificial meat. Suddenly, scientists are looking pretty good again. Never mind that during their years in the wilderness, they gave us cell phones and the internet and better transportation (a car wreck today is nothing like a car wreck in the 70s...Trust me on this one.). My daughter's smart phone has more computational power than existed in the entire world in 1980. The internet has allowed more communication between scientists around the world than ever existed, let alone the "glory days" of the scientific community that was ended by WWI. Technology breeds technology. Science breeds science.
Also, the anti-science crowd is being more and more marginalized, mostly by themselves, as they push harder and harder for more and more ridiculous things...Because they have started reading their own press, and they think that everyone else in America wants to join their little Taliban Lite.
Now it just remains to be seen whether or not scientists can achieve the same sort of attitude they had in the 60s, the "Hell yes, we can get to the moon on 32K of RAM" sort of "everything is possible" attitude. All it takes is BIG BRASS BALLS AND/OR OVARIES. I believe it was Richard Feynman that said "Science, pure science, and damned be he who cries 'enough'!".
While we weren't paying attention, while we were moaning about how shitty the world is, these jackasses were out inventing autofabricators and all manner of other crazy shit. While we were crying in our beer, the world got better the same way it always has...A few bright, motivated monkeys went out and made shit better for everyone else.
So enough pissing and moaning, Kai. Sure there's all sorts of bad shit going on. Warships to the gulf? Happens like clockwork. War and rumors of war? It's ALWAYS been that way, and it used to be WORSE. It is time to stop worrying about shit you can't change, and instead concentrate on what it is that you DO, which may not be all sexy and shit like the warp drive stuff, but is equally important because you are adding to the sum total knowledge possessed by a species that just might make it, after all.
Things ARE getting better...So you do science, and don't worry about the monkeys.
Yours truly,
P.T. Barnum
Wise words to live by. The world is both going straight to hell, and being raised above it's meager origins. The achievements of SCIENCE are tempered by the apes that think they understand it. And the whole thing spins, a cacaphonous waltz that can only really be called existence.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 19, 2012, 05:18:23 PM
Wise words to live by. The world is both going straight to hell, and being raised above it's meager origins. The achievements of SCIENCE are tempered by the apes that think they understand it. And the whole thing spins, a cacaphonous waltz that can only really be called existence.
The achievements of SCIENCE are enjoyed by people raised to hate it. No worries, it's been that way for a long time, and things still move right along.
It reminds me of the atheist/theist conundrum. What do you do with your life, given the uncertainties of what happens when you die? Well, obviously, you live your life.
Just so with amazing advances in a world full of suicidal primates. They're busy tearing stuff up and shitting all over the future, and I'm working for a company that is involved with making transparent aluminum. Fuck the primates and their stupidity, we're doing SCIENCE for its own sake.
And if the world ends tomorrow? Well, at least I was doing something COOL when it happened, right?
Build the future today, let tomorrow worry about tomorrow.
You're doing what, now?
Dude, I want a transparent aluminum drum set. It would sound totally freaky, and look amazingly cool.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 19, 2012, 05:42:45 PM
You're doing what, now?
Dude, I want a transparent aluminum drum set. It would sound totally freaky, and look amazingly cool.
Okay, but it's a little pricey. Right now it's being tested for use as armor for the military, but there's about a billion applications for it.
Fun part: The entire armor section (windshield, whatever) is grown as a
single alumina synthetic sapphire crystal. Basically, the alumina is heated up over 3000C, whereupon all the atoms in the feedstock line up in perfectly straight rows. The hardest stuff on Earth, utterly flawless, and it won't melt unless you actually nuke it or chuck it into the sun.
Another application it's being tested on is making screens for phones, etc, that can't break.
Can I tell you the most exciting thing about science right now? The thing that literally makes my nipples hard when I think about it?
It's that we don't know what we're going to be doing in four years. We are moving so fast that kids starting college now have no idea what kinds of jobs or research they will be doing when they graduate. Can't even speculate.
Quote from: A Very Hairy Monkey In An Ill-Fitting Tunic on September 19, 2012, 05:58:58 PM
Can I tell you the most exciting thing about science right now? The thing that literally makes my nipples hard when I think about it?
It's that we don't know what we're going to be doing in four years. We are moving so fast that kids starting college now have no idea what kinds of jobs or research they will be doing when they graduate. Can't even speculate.
And this is, as I have said, what the singularity really means. It's not Science Jesus or any of that other hippie shit, it's the point in time where you can no longer make educated guesses about the future, as technology is increasing faster than the news of the technology can be communicated.
In 1500 CE, that was about 300 years ahead.
Now it's about 2-4 years ahead.
The Warp Drive news I caught wind of and posted about got me thinking about this. There's so much awesome shit happening in science right now I really do not understand why the entire species doesn't just stop what they're doing, walk outside, gaze up into the sky and just wonder about things.
Like the only living Deity in the world, Devin Townsend, once wrote: "Technology will be the Second Coming, and it will hit us while we're looking for a man."
And if that Feynmann quote is accurate, I think I want it as a tattoo.
Quote from: v3x on September 19, 2012, 06:06:52 PM
The Warp Drive news I caught wind of and posted about got me thinking about this. There's so much awesome shit happening in science right now I really do not understand why the entire species doesn't just stop what they're doing, walk outside, gaze up into the sky and just wonder about things.
Like the only living Deity in the world, Devin Townsend, once wrote: "Technology will be the Second Coming, and it will hit us while we're looking for a man."
Hell yeah.
Even the healing bit. The feedstock we are making cannot react with the human body.
Unbreakable, eternal replacement joints and bones that your body can't reject. And that's just ONE company, and it's only a fraction of what we do. Throw in those lunatics at NASA and the crazy Germans who are building machines that build machines, and things are looking exciting as hell.
Then feed the multitudes with vat-grown beef, instead of loaves and fishes.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 19, 2012, 06:09:05 PM
And if that Feynmann quote is accurate, I think I want it as a tattoo.
It's a real quote, and I can find out if it was Feynman. Hang on.
Found this while I was looking:
"The loveliest theories are being overthrown by these damned experiments; it's no fun being a chemist anymore."
- Justus von Liebig, 1834
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:10:17 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 19, 2012, 06:09:05 PM
And if that Feynmann quote is accurate, I think I want it as a tattoo.
It's a real quote, and I can find out if it was Feynman. Hang on.
Real or not it's a cool as fuck thing to have tattooed on your johnston regardless.
Who the fuck attributes sources on a tatt anyroad?
*ETA*
Regarding the OP - fuck yeah! It's getting easier and easier to maintain a permanent sense of wonder, given that, in the couple of days it takes something wondrous and new to become mundane, something new and wondrous appears. We live in the most awesome period in history and it's getting more awesome by the hour.
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:01:33 PM
Quote from: A Very Hairy Monkey In An Ill-Fitting Tunic on September 19, 2012, 05:58:58 PM
Can I tell you the most exciting thing about science right now? The thing that literally makes my nipples hard when I think about it?
It's that we don't know what we're going to be doing in four years. We are moving so fast that kids starting college now have no idea what kinds of jobs or research they will be doing when they graduate. Can't even speculate.
And this is, as I have said, what the singularity really means. It's not Science Jesus or any of that other hippie shit, it's the point in time where you can no longer make educated guesses about the future, as technology is increasing faster than the news of the technology can be communicated.
In 1500 CE, that was about 300 years ahead.
Now it's about 2-4 years ahead.
This is the most exciting time imaginable to embark on a neuroscience career, because we are finally developing the tools to actually look at the brain in action, and begin to really understand it.
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on September 19, 2012, 06:17:32 PM
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:10:17 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 19, 2012, 06:09:05 PM
And if that Feynmann quote is accurate, I think I want it as a tattoo.
It's a real quote, and I can find out if it was Feynman. Hang on.
Real or not it's a cool as fuck thing to have tattooed on your johnston regardless.
Who the fuck attributes sources on a tatt anyroad?
Even if I don't list the citation, it would be pretty weak if some kid asked about my tattoo and I said it was Feynmann rather than Sagan or Isamov.
Found this shit. Not what I was looking for, but AMAZING:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 19, 2012, 06:19:16 PM
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on September 19, 2012, 06:17:32 PM
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:10:17 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 19, 2012, 06:09:05 PM
And if that Feynmann quote is accurate, I think I want it as a tattoo.
It's a real quote, and I can find out if it was Feynman. Hang on.
Real or not it's a cool as fuck thing to have tattooed on your johnston regardless.
Who the fuck attributes sources on a tatt anyroad?
Even if I don't list the citation, it would be pretty weak if some kid asked about my tattoo and I said it was Feynmann rather than Sagan or Isamov.
Tell them you made it up. I do that with any quote I ever use anyway.
The other thrilling thing is watching branches of science which once existed in what we held as separate demesnes increasingly intertwine and overlap. The rate of intertwining is speeding up, to the point where I'm starting to wonder how universities are able to separate sciences into departments at all. There are all these arbitrary department divisions that must constantly be crossed in order to advance the research.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 19, 2012, 06:19:16 PM
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on September 19, 2012, 06:17:32 PM
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:10:17 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 19, 2012, 06:09:05 PM
And if that Feynmann quote is accurate, I think I want it as a tattoo.
It's a real quote, and I can find out if it was Feynman. Hang on.
Real or not it's a cool as fuck thing to have tattooed on your johnston regardless.
Who the fuck attributes sources on a tatt anyroad?
Even if I don't list the citation, it would be pretty weak if some kid asked about my tattoo and I said it was Feynmann rather than Sagan or Isamov.
Verifying the exact wording now could save potential embarrassment and regret down the road, as well...
Found it. It was Feynman quoting an anonymous student. While he was teaching some religious-minded person tacked up a sign in the physics department that said "There are some things man was not meant to know." A sign appeared below that, saying, "Like what?", then a sign bearing the quote I used appeared below THAT.
Source: "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman!"
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:21:15 PM
Found this shit. Not what I was looking for, but AMAZING:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman
Feyman is 1000 buckets of gold when it comes to quotable quotes. On our way to Arizona, we listened to some of his lectures, and were constantly cracking up and repeating memorable lines.
Quote from: A Very Hairy Monkey In An Ill-Fitting Tunic on September 19, 2012, 06:24:05 PM
The other thrilling thing is watching branches of science which once existed in what we held as separate demesnes increasingly intertwine and overlap. The rate of intertwining is speeding up, to the point where I'm starting to wonder how universities are able to separate sciences into departments at all. There are all these arbitrary department divisions that must constantly be crossed in order to advance the research.
When I was in university, physics was part of the liberal arts department, for some reason.
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:27:30 PM
Quote from: A Very Hairy Monkey In An Ill-Fitting Tunic on September 19, 2012, 06:24:05 PM
The other thrilling thing is watching branches of science which once existed in what we held as separate demesnes increasingly intertwine and overlap. The rate of intertwining is speeding up, to the point where I'm starting to wonder how universities are able to separate sciences into departments at all. There are all these arbitrary department divisions that must constantly be crossed in order to advance the research.
When I was in university, physics was part of the liberal arts department, for some reason.
Probably because when you were in university, physics was the study of how round things roll better than square things, and "The Wheel" was considered far-fetched.
Quote from: v3x on September 19, 2012, 06:30:17 PM
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:27:30 PM
Quote from: A Very Hairy Monkey In An Ill-Fitting Tunic on September 19, 2012, 06:24:05 PM
The other thrilling thing is watching branches of science which once existed in what we held as separate demesnes increasingly intertwine and overlap. The rate of intertwining is speeding up, to the point where I'm starting to wonder how universities are able to separate sciences into departments at all. There are all these arbitrary department divisions that must constantly be crossed in order to advance the research.
When I was in university, physics was part of the liberal arts department, for some reason.
Probably because when you were in university, physics was the study of how round things roll better than square things, and "The Wheel" was considered far-fetched.
:lulz:
Quote from: v3x on September 19, 2012, 06:30:17 PM
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:27:30 PM
Quote from: A Very Hairy Monkey In An Ill-Fitting Tunic on September 19, 2012, 06:24:05 PM
The other thrilling thing is watching branches of science which once existed in what we held as separate demesnes increasingly intertwine and overlap. The rate of intertwining is speeding up, to the point where I'm starting to wonder how universities are able to separate sciences into departments at all. There are all these arbitrary department divisions that must constantly be crossed in order to advance the research.
When I was in university, physics was part of the liberal arts department, for some reason.
Probably because when you were in university, physics was the study of how round things roll better than square things, and "The Wheel" was considered far-fetched.
Oh, you had to go
there, did you?
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:27:30 PM
Quote from: A Very Hairy Monkey In An Ill-Fitting Tunic on September 19, 2012, 06:24:05 PM
The other thrilling thing is watching branches of science which once existed in what we held as separate demesnes increasingly intertwine and overlap. The rate of intertwining is speeding up, to the point where I'm starting to wonder how universities are able to separate sciences into departments at all. There are all these arbitrary department divisions that must constantly be crossed in order to advance the research.
When I was in university, physics was part of the liberal arts department, for some reason.
That's... weird!
Quote from: v3x on September 19, 2012, 06:30:17 PM
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:27:30 PM
Quote from: A Very Hairy Monkey In An Ill-Fitting Tunic on September 19, 2012, 06:24:05 PM
The other thrilling thing is watching branches of science which once existed in what we held as separate demesnes increasingly intertwine and overlap. The rate of intertwining is speeding up, to the point where I'm starting to wonder how universities are able to separate sciences into departments at all. There are all these arbitrary department divisions that must constantly be crossed in order to advance the research.
When I was in university, physics was part of the liberal arts department, for some reason.
Probably because when you were in university, physics was the study of how round things roll better than square things, and "The Wheel" was considered far-fetched.
:trolling:
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 19, 2012, 07:03:44 PM
Quote from: v3x on September 19, 2012, 06:30:17 PM
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:27:30 PM
Quote from: A Very Hairy Monkey In An Ill-Fitting Tunic on September 19, 2012, 06:24:05 PM
The other thrilling thing is watching branches of science which once existed in what we held as separate demesnes increasingly intertwine and overlap. The rate of intertwining is speeding up, to the point where I'm starting to wonder how universities are able to separate sciences into departments at all. There are all these arbitrary department divisions that must constantly be crossed in order to advance the research.
When I was in university, physics was part of the liberal arts department, for some reason.
Probably because when you were in university, physics was the study of how round things roll better than square things, and "The Wheel" was considered far-fetched.
:trolling:
It's for SCIENCE!
Just think how much funnier this will be in 75 years, when SCIENCE will have kept Roger alive for over 300 years.
Quote from: v3x on September 19, 2012, 07:04:49 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 19, 2012, 07:03:44 PM
Quote from: v3x on September 19, 2012, 06:30:17 PM
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 06:27:30 PM
Quote from: A Very Hairy Monkey In An Ill-Fitting Tunic on September 19, 2012, 06:24:05 PM
The other thrilling thing is watching branches of science which once existed in what we held as separate demesnes increasingly intertwine and overlap. The rate of intertwining is speeding up, to the point where I'm starting to wonder how universities are able to separate sciences into departments at all. There are all these arbitrary department divisions that must constantly be crossed in order to advance the research.
When I was in university, physics was part of the liberal arts department, for some reason.
Probably because when you were in university, physics was the study of how round things roll better than square things, and "The Wheel" was considered far-fetched.
:trolling:
It's for SCIENCE!
Just think how much funnier this will be in 75 years, when SCIENCE will have kept Roger alive for over 300 years.
:lulz:
:ohnotache:
OR TRANSHUMANISE ME :lulz:
Quote from: Fidel Castro on September 19, 2012, 04:59:13 PM
I couldn't help noticing how discouraged you were with the world last night. I thought about it a little, and the following occurred to me.
Once upon a time, scientists were heroes. The space race, walking on the moon, better and better methods of cooking, communication, transport, clean air energy...If there was a problem, people looked to the scientists to fix things. They were placed on a pedestal like Gods.
Then it turned out that there were problems that couldn't be fixed by engineers or physicists or chemists. Suddenly, that pedestal was knocked out from underneath them, and they were then responsible for all manner of horrible shit...Most of which were actually the same things they'd been lauded for, like nuclear power. Nuclear power didn't change, the public perception of it changed when they tore down their science gods.
This in fact led to science itself being dragged through the mud...Sometimes by religious fanatics who didn't like the answers science provided in the first place, and sometimes by people who thought they were "doing science", but were actually only adding to the stigma (economists, for example) by smearing the label "science" with whatever wrong-headed shit they were pushing.
And then 40 years go by. Suddenly, all manner of cool shit is happening. Possible "warp drive" technology. Autofabricators. New and better medicine. Vat-grown organs. Artificial meat. Suddenly, scientists are looking pretty good again. Never mind that during their years in the wilderness, they gave us cell phones and the internet and better transportation (a car wreck today is nothing like a car wreck in the 70s...Trust me on this one.). My daughter's smart phone has more computational power than existed in the entire world in 1980. The internet has allowed more communication between scientists around the world than ever existed, let alone the "glory days" of the scientific community that was ended by WWI. Technology breeds technology. Science breeds science.
Also, the anti-science crowd is being more and more marginalized, mostly by themselves, as they push harder and harder for more and more ridiculous things...Because they have started reading their own press, and they think that everyone else in America wants to join their little Taliban Lite.
Now it just remains to be seen whether or not scientists can achieve the same sort of attitude they had in the 60s, the "Hell yes, we can get to the moon on 32K of RAM" sort of "everything is possible" attitude. All it takes is BIG BRASS BALLS AND/OR OVARIES. I believe it was Richard Feynman that said "Science, pure science, and damned be he who cries 'enough'!".
While we weren't paying attention, while we were moaning about how shitty the world is, these jackasses were out inventing autofabricators and all manner of other crazy shit. While we were crying in our beer, the world got better the same way it always has...A few bright, motivated monkeys went out and made shit better for everyone else.
So enough pissing and moaning, Kai. Sure there's all sorts of bad shit going on. Warships to the gulf? Happens like clockwork. War and rumors of war? It's ALWAYS been that way, and it used to be WORSE. It is time to stop worrying about shit you can't change, and instead concentrate on what it is that you DO, which may not be all sexy and shit like the warp drive stuff, but is equally important because you are adding to the sum total knowledge possessed by a species that just might make it, after all.
Things ARE getting better...So you do science, and don't worry about the monkeys.
Yours truly,
P.T. Barnum
Funny how it's the shit I can't change that I get most upset about. The shit I can change, I usually just do without a peep, even if it's a major mess and I'm the responsible party.
And we are living in an amazing time. Mind you, every proceeding era is an amazing time if all you have in comparison is the past. But there are many incredible discoveries being made every day, all thanks to Scientists and their empiricism.
As for me...well, Feynmen yet again offers the explanation. A past student sent him a letter, saddened about working on problems that were humble and down to earth. He responded:
Quote from: To Koichi Mano, 1966I was very happy to hear from you, and that you have such a position in the Research Laboratories. Unfortunately your letter made me unhappy for you seem to be truly sad. The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. A problem is grand in science if it lies before us unsolved and we see some way for us to make a little headway into it. I would advise you to take even simpler, or as you say, humbler, problems until you find some you can really solve easily, no matter how trivial. You will get the pleasure of success, and of helping your fellow man, even if it is only to answer a question in the mind of a colleague less able than you. You must not take away from yourself these pleasures because you have some erroneous idea of what is worthwhile. No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it. You say you are a nameless man. You are not to your wife and to your child. You will not long remain so to your immediate colleagues if you can answer their simple questions when they come into your office.
You are not nameless to me. Do not remain nameless to yourself — it is too sad a way to be. Know your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of the naive ideals of your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher's ideals are.
My problems are little problems, but I can really do something about them, and I can answer my colleagues' simple questions, if not more. I am not nameless to myself.
I need to re-read my Feynmann. That guy is like whoa.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 20, 2012, 12:47:44 PM
I need to re-read my Feynmann. That guy is like whoa.
The guy is a goldmine. It seems like every single thing he ever said publicly is a useful tidbit.