Comment on 1.1 History
doctorcrimson@lemmy.today 6 months ago
I think high level degree holders know a lot more than the average man thinks we know, in fact I doubt the majority of people even know US High school level stuff like that we’ve discovered a gravitational constant and about the inverse square law as it applies to gravity.
crapwittyname@lemm.ee 6 months ago
The sad reason for that is that it’s a conversation killer. I would love to go back and forth for hours on things like the uncanny similarity between universal gravitation and Coulomb’s law. But, when I speak to someone with a similar background to mine it’s all…work-work-work-how-is-it-applied??, and when I speak to someone without that background it’s all yawns. It’s a shame because in either case I think science is the most interesting topic. It’s just as edifying to dive casually into the philosophy as it is to dive rigourously into the maths. I learn more per unit time from either type of conversation than from studying papers. And, it’s a passion, but one whose expression is stymied either by explaining it in terms of football fields per dolphin or by making it marketable. Interaction with other minds is the most valuable type of learning.
I feel like I may come off as a bit of an elitist writing this, but the problem really is the opposite: I wish more people would get involved!
Pseudonaut@lemmy.today 6 months ago
I’m a person without that background and I’ll talk about it. What’s the uncanny similarity you mentioned?
crapwittyname@lemm.ee 6 months ago
Well that’s lovely, thank you 😊 So Newton’s law of universal gravitation is: F= G×M×m/r^2 which is simple enough to be able to say it in a sentence: "the force of gravity F on two masses M and m is proportional to their masses and square of the distance between them, r " so the heavier and closer planets/suns/black holes are, the greater the gravitationnel pull.
Coulomb’s law is: F= k×Q×q/r^2 which is pretty much exactly the same as you have probably noticed: "the force of electrical attraction F on two charged particles Q and q is proportional to their charges and the square of the distance between them, r "
So the exact same rule applies to planets and atoms. Their behaviour can be explained in the same way. It’s called an “inverse square law”, it’s got a name because they happen everywhere. And it’s just, like… Why? Why does the universe work that way? You’re not really encouraged to ask that sort of question as a science student, because it “goes nowhere” and doesn’t lead to actionable results. But I give it quite spooky. There are loads of weird results like that in science and maths (see quantum theory for abundant examples!) but it’s unusual to be able to sit and think about it. There is, in the car of the inverse square law, a pretty elegant mathematical explanation for why they’re so common, but it doesn’t quite scratch the itch for me, it just raises more questions
ComicalMayhem@lemmy.world 6 months ago
You mentioned a mathematical explanation for why it’s so common. Got any further reading on that? It’s mind blowing that the math for calculating planetary movement and atomic behavior is exactly the same formula, with different variables. Do you have any theories on why inverse square law is so common?
dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world 6 months ago
This is actually really cool. I have no idea about any of it, but I remember watching a documentary a long time ago that said certain mathematical patterns repeat all over nature. What you said seems similar to that.
hydrospanner@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I get it…but at the same time I also get why you’re not going to be the life of the party with material like that.
I think a big part of this is because it’s already a super, super niche topic, but then you’re adding the extra layer of wanting to stick to a largely theoretical/conceptual tone of discussion, ruling out most of what few were still interested when you started into the topic. And once you’re that far down the rabbit hole, I feel like there’s going to be hyper specific topics that dominate, and unless your conversation partner not only has that knowledge but also wants to have that conversation…well the conversation isn’t really going to happen at all.
It’s also a very brain-power intense set of topics for a leisure time get together where most people have the goal of not having to think too hard on anything.
crapwittyname@lemm.ee 6 months ago
You’re absolutely right, I see that. It’s why I used to lecture all of my friends about physics when I was studying it, but now I pretty much never really talk about it except on clear nights when I can name stars and talk a bit about them.
ComicalMayhem@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Fuck it bro I’ll listen. I don’t have a degree or anything so I probably won’t understand much though.
crapwittyname@lemm.ee 6 months ago
What’s nothing like? Before the big bang, there was nothing. What the fuck colour was it? How does that even work?
dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world 6 months ago
You and me both. I love documentaries and when I get on a space kick, I think about this a lot. What did it look like? What’s nothing? My brain can’t fathom literally nothing. It had to be some sort of something. Almost makes me want to say that the universe does have a creator, but in that case, where’d the creator come from? (My favorite creation myth is that the Goddess danced and galaxies spun off on her dress. Makes as much sense as any of the others.)
hydrospanner@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Also: if there was nothing, then what went bang?
Just as important, why did it go bang?
Not to open an entirely different can of worms, but aside from the presence or lack of an actual character in the role, religious and scientific theories on the beginning of everything are similarly unfulfilling.
“First, there was nothing. Then a thing happened, and there was something!”
ComicalMayhem@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I’d assume black, no? Just total, unending, absolute darkness? Space is mostly vacuum with unimaginable distances between anything, and that empty, void space is basically pockets of the nothingness that existed before the big bang, so I’d (with my limited experience) assume something similar.
Though how it works? Yeah I have no fucking clue man, it’s basically incomprehensible isn’t it? Just the absence of existence. If I remember right, I heard at the time that all the matter of the universe was condensed into a singular point, and the big bang was basically that exploding, but it’s hard to imagine that it was the only thing that existed, and that there was nothingness beyond it.
You ever wonder if human minds just biologically aren’t equipped to understand or comprehend this stuff? Same way ants can’t possibly fathom the existence of radio waves or apes can’t understand trigonometry or how it works?
barsoap@lemm.ee 6 months ago
I dunno, it’s an inverse square. Are we going to get excited each time something has a linear relationship to another thing? What makes the inverse square so special?
runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 months ago
In my field of work (molecular biology) anything with a linear relationship gets exciting! I got an R^2 of .9968 last week that had me jumping for joy.