Jump to content
Science Forums

Any Scientists Here Done Interviews On Shows? What's It Like?


randomsoldier1337

Recommended Posts

Yes, My experience is that many people that have no knowledge of science do not understand the basic concepts much less what you are talking about, thus generally I don't talk to people about science that are not scientist, they always say the same thing though, They think it is cool then respect me for my knowledge, but basically their understanding is that of a child that studied science would understand, I can see in their eyes that they think what I do is like magic.

Edited by VictorMedvil
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a very cynical view to take, especially, since as I feel, we all need to support each other. Holding someone in contempt doesn't seem like it would help, more so if you have trouble keeping your feelings in check. At least I do often.

I've talked to a large number of people about science who have not studied much of it.

 

The experience varies. The big difference is between people who really are interested - often children - and people who say they are  interested but actually have an agenda of their own that they want to introduce or get validation for. The latter group can be very tiresome. The former group can be very rewarding.  

 

I still remember a little girl of about 8, the daughter of a friend from work, at the sailing club in Dubai one Friday afternoon, who had a bad case of the "why?"s. To every answer I gave, she would ask why it was so. We delved deeper and deeper. After about 20 minutes, by which time I had had to talk about atomic theory, we reached the point at which I said: "We do not know - it is just what the observations seem to suggest". Then at last she was satisfied. Sweet girl. I recall on another occasion reading to her "The Singsong of Old Man Kangaroo" from Kipling's Just So Stories, because it was my favourite and I thought she ought to hear it. I was nicknamed YellowDog Dingo after that. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there anyway to tell the wrong people apart prior?

That would invite prejudice.

 

You can only know if someone was worth your time AFTER you invested some of it. It's why my personal methods usually involve "here's a rough picture, and you can go do some research in this other couple areas to start to understand the details."

 

There's also evolutionary psychology involved: People tend to assume a framework first and fill in facts that fit (while ignoring or discarding those that do not fit) as they go along. We are of a breed that avoided predators on the Savannah, where thinking too deeply and too long generally meant you didn't get to survive to breed. I find it's best to exploit that evolutionary bias: hand over a basic idea large enough parts can get filled in, and them learning the details for themselves will make it stick better. That method also tends to save on wasted time; they're not going to argue silly things they don't quite understand with you if you're not the one making airplane noises while trying to spoon feed them a degree.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a very cynical view to take, especially, since as I feel, we all need to support each other. Holding someone in contempt doesn't seem like it would help, more so if you have trouble keeping your feelings in check. At least I do often.

 

No man, I don't think you have ever tried to explain something to a argumentative moron before or you would understand the view I have on this is correct, people that often don't know anything will fight you tooth and nail. Some people are just retarded man and its way not worth explaining stuff to them and "Think" they know better than someone who has actually studied this stuff. We get different people like that every couple of weeks to days on this forum that are just retards that think they know some truth about science which is off the wall crazy. A great example is this thread and this dude(http://www.scienceforums.com/topic/36123-is-this-a-reactionless-drive/) or this retard(http://www.scienceforums.com/topic/36056-the-act-of-observationmeasurement-is-a-request-of-quantum-wave-information-to-spacetime/) and especially this moron(http://www.scienceforums.com/topic/35890-collecting-evidence-negating-all-of-einsteins-hypothesies/).

 

If I had a nickel for every time someone that didn't know anything claimed they knew like everything about something I would be Rich, It's like human nature.

Edited by VictorMedvil
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there anyway to tell the wrong people apart prior?

Now we get to it, because a lot of the wrong people infest science forums on the internet. :)

 

Sometimes you can tell in advance. If you happen to know the person is a creationist, or goes in for "crystals", then you can be pretty sure you will be wasting your time. Often a creationist will start by stating they just have some questions - about life or evolution. Then, after a few innocent-seeming exchanges, they will run up the Jolly Roger. Or if someone sails in, leading with his chin (it is never a woman)  by declaring that Einstein was wrong about relativity, you know what will follow. 

 

But in general you find out only after a while. 

 

My personal practice is to take everyone at face value for a bit, unless they are off the dial wacky, and then see. Sometimes I have had very interesting discussions with cranks. There was  fellow called rhertz on this forum a while ago, for example. A bitter'n'twisted retired electrical engineer crank, who couldn't stand c.20th physics. But in the course of my argument with him I found myself exploring some unfamiliar bits of nuclear physics - binding energies and so forth. We've also had a perpetual motion crank or two: it can be fun analysing why their ideas can't work without being allowed to resort to the laws of thermodynamics. There was a bizarre one on this forum, involving surface tension, that was really quite tricky to disentangle.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No man, I don't think you have ever tried to explain something to a argumentative moron before or you would understand the view I have on this is correct, people that often don't know anything will fight you tooth and nail. Some people are just retarded man and its way not worth explaining stuff to them and "Think" they know better than someone who has actually studied this stuff. We get different people like that every couple of weeks to days on this forum that are just retards that think they know some truth about science which is off the wall crazy. A great example is this thread and this dude(http://www.scienceforums.com/topic/36123-is-this-a-reactionless-drive/) or this retard(http://www.scienceforums.com/topic/36056-the-act-of-observationmeasurement-is-a-request-of-quantum-wave-information-to-spacetime/) and especially this moron(http://www.scienceforums.com/topic/35890-collecting-evidence-negating-all-of-einsteins-hypothesies/).

 

If I had a nickel for every time someone that didn't know anything claimed they knew like everything about something I would be Rich, It's like human nature.

 

I don't know your experiences (apart from the ones you showed). Maybe it is true. Personally, I can't say.

 

Now we get to it, because a lot of the wrong people infest science forums on the internet. :)

 

Sometimes you can tell in advance. If you happen to know the person is a creationist, or goes in for "crystals", then you can be pretty sure you will be wasting your time. Often a creationist will start by stating they just have some questions - about life or evolution. Then, after a few innocent-seeming exchanges, they will run up the Jolly Roger. Or if someone sails in, leading with his chin (it is never a woman)  by declaring that Einstein was wrong about relativity, you know what will follow. 

 

But in general you find out only after a while. 

 

My personal practice is to take everyone at face value for a bit, unless they are off the dial wacky, and then see. Sometimes I have had very interesting discussions with cranks. There was  fellow called rhertz on this forum a while ago, for example. A bitter'n'twisted retired electrical engineer crank, who couldn't stand c.20th physics. But in the course of my argument with him I found myself exploring some unfamiliar bits of nuclear physics - binding energies and so forth. We've also had a perpetual motion crank or two: it can be fun analysing why their ideas can't work without being allowed to resort to the laws of thermodynamics. There was a bizarre one on this forum, involving surface tension, that was really quite tricky to disentangle.  

 

Well let me tell you guys, that I used to believe in homeopathy once. Didn't know the actual workings. Just that it was "cheaper" under the circumstances and that it "worked" for some people and it seemed to "work" for me for a while as well. Until it didn't anymore and I decided to see how it "works". I'm not a medical expert but once I read up on it a bit, I got the feeling that there might be some quackery involved so I stopped putting any faith in it. Turns out that my body was recovering from colds, not the medicine affecting me (unless placebos count) and that it can't do anything on asthma.

 

My point is that, some people can change their views and you shouldn't right everyone off. Now if they will drop their ego in front of you like they would drop their pants for a hottie asking for action and change right then and there because of your words, I can't say.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know your experiences (apart from the ones you showed). Maybe it is true. Personally, I can't say.

 

 

Well let me tell you guys, that I used to believe in homeopathy once. Didn't know the actual workings. Just that it was "cheaper" under the circumstances and that it "worked" for some people and it seemed to "work" for me for a while as well. Until it didn't anymore and I decided to see how it "works". I'm not a medical expert but once I read up on it a bit, I got the feeling that there might be some quackery involved so I stopped putting any faith in it. Turns out that my body was recovering from colds, not the medicine affecting me (unless placebos count) and that it can't do anything on asthma.

 

My point is that, some people can change their views and you shouldn't right everyone off. Now if they will drop their ego in front of you like they would drop their pants for a hottie asking for action and change right then and there because of your words, I can't say.

I don't write people off unless they give me a reason to. I have a lot of good discussions with interested people. There was recently a guy called Nishan on this forum asking for help with physics. You can look him up and see what we discussed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...