General Science Discussion Thread!

Kind of funny how we're still scared of spiders even though cars kill us more.

Maybe a biological fear of cars will surface in the human race one day. </illogical argument>
 
well car crashes are caused by people that are stupid when driving.
 
Dr. Murder said:
Did you know that you have a lot more chances of winning some huge lottery game than getting killed by a shark?
Click to expand...
skewed statistic. while a death by shark is highly unlikely, being attacked by one (and possibly losing a limb) is far more common
 
I said "Death".


Actually, you have more chances of getting killed hit by a falling coconut rather than being killed by a shark.
 
Dr. Javelin said:
Dr. Murder said:
Did you know that you have a lot more chances of winning some huge lottery game than getting killed by a shark?
Click to expand...
skewed statistic. while a death by shark is highly unlikely, being attacked by one (and possibly losing a limb) is far more common
Click to expand...

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/11/22/nat-geo-wild-what-are-the-odds-some-surprising-shark-attack-stats/
  • In 1996, toilets injured 43,000 Americans. Sharks injured 13.
  • 1n 1996, buckets and pails injured almost 11,000 Americans. Sharks injured 13.
  • In 1996, room fresheners injured 2,600 Americans. Sharks injured 13.
  • The U.S. averages 19 shark attacks a year. Lightning kills about 41 people a year in coastal states alone.
  • For every human killed by a shark, humans kill two million sharks.
  • Anyone who has swum in New Smyrna Beach, Florida (shark capital of the world) has likely been within 10 feet of a shark.
Click to expand...

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/statistics/GAttack/World.htm

According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), between 1580 and 2013 there were 2,667 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks around the world, of which 495 were fatal.
Click to expand...

2,667, out of what, billions of people that have ever lived? There are some unreported shark attacks (like those that disappear after shipwrecks), but it won't increase the number by a lot.
 
ernesth100 said:
Anyone think the Megaladon is still alive?
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Absolutely not.

That stupid documentary actually made people think Megalodon actually still exists. Who is actually dumb enough to fall for that shit? Stuff like this is why I'm beginning to loose my faith in Shark Week.
 
It's probably the same people that believe in Bigfoot and Loch Ness Monster despite evidence to the contrary or just lack of ANY evidence.
 
Except "both TV shows aired disclaimers that the shows were works of fiction."

So it's really the viewers' fault for believing in it, just as how some people take articles in The Onion as real.
 
All of the main Discovery channels and things like that are turning into absolute sensationalist horseshit, looking to grab the biggest audience and profit; and misinformation and trickery sells more than fact. There are still a few good science channels and such left, but they're mostly accessory channels that come with special tv packages and not in the generic ones, so wicked cool shows like Morgan Freeman explaining the true science behind our innovations leading us closer to things like time travel, immortality, mind control, teleportation, the existence of god and the soul, etc. are shunned behind shows about who can get the best deal on rust at various auctions, paranoid adult men running through houses at night pissing themselves over a breeze, or the mystery surrounding the anti-gravity properties of Giorgio Tsoukalos' hair.

I absolutely lost all faith when I was watching an episode of Ancient Aliens with my father and brother's gf's mother's bf (lol) down in Florida on vacation, both of whom absolutely believed it, the latter more so. At the end of the episode it literally said "And how would the public react to this if there were actually any evidence behind it?" or something similarly worded and I completely died. My dad chuckled and conceded a little, but my brother's gf's mother's bf had a fit and started screaming about 9/11 conspiracies and ignored me, shunning me as a "Northern Liberal Fag Yankee", even though he was born and raised in New Jersey and only recently moved to Florida. Shows may have disclaimers but they're easily ignored because they're pushed at the end of episodes or not given much attention. There was another episode that pretty much said that aliens created mankind on earth to mine gold because the alien homeworld's atmosphere is made out of it, and he vehemently believed it, shouting things like "HOW DO THEY KNOW ABOUT THIS?? THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A SECRET!!! OH MAN THE GOVERNMENT IS GONNA BE SO MAD THAT WE KNOW NOW!", all while still trying to pose himself as a hardcore christian conservative literal-bible truther. I wonder what Jesus would think about one of his faithful followers having a contradictory belief. I'm not sure if this is related at all, but he's also got the biggest unironic man-crush on Ron Paul--I'll let you guys decide.
 
It's a good thing I don't watch TV or whatever. I lost interest in Discovery Channel years ago, so that must be the reason. And, to put it frankly, your brother's girlfriend's mother has a bigot boyfriend. I can't image living with people who label others as a "Northern Liberal *bleep* Yankee" (there's absolutely nothing wrong being a liberal unlike being a fundamentalist), much less, incorrectly. What kind of garbage did he listen to to spew such inane rubbish like this?

Class, this is why we need to teach critical thinking at our schools.
 
It sounds like people need to learn to be skeptical of stuff. I hate people who believe in conspiracy theories like the moon landing or the holocaust didn't exist (especially the latter one because it's ----ing offensive)
 
Baby Luigi said:
It sounds like people need to learn to be skeptical of stuff. I hate people who believe in conspiracy theories like the moon landing or the holocaust didn't exist (especially the latter one because it's ----ing offensive)
Click to expand...
Silly baby luigi still believing that the moon landing wasn't faked at nasa headquarters
 
Morty said:
All of the main Discovery channels and things like that are turning into absolute sensationalist horse*bleep*, looking to grab the biggest audience and profit; and misinformation and trickery sells more than fact. There are still a few good science channels and such left, but they're mostly accessory channels that come with special tv packages and not in the generic ones, so wicked cool shows like Morgan Freeman explaining the true science behind our innovations leading us closer to things like time travel, immortality, mind control, teleportation, the existence of god and the soul, etc. are shunned behind shows about who can get the best deal on rust at various auctions, paranoid adult men running through houses at night pissing themselves over a breeze, or the mystery surrounding the anti-gravity properties of Giorgio Tsoukalos' hair.

I absolutely lost all faith when I was watching an episode of Ancient Aliens with my father and brother's gf's mother's bf (lol) down in Florida on vacation, both of whom absolutely believed it, the latter more so. At the end of the episode it literally said "And how would the public react to this if there were actually any evidence behind it?" or something similarly worded and I completely died. My dad chuckled and conceded a little, but my brother's gf's mother's bf had a fit and started screaming about 9/11 conspiracies and ignored me, shunning me as a "Northern Liberal *bleep* Yankee", even though he was born and raised in New Jersey and only recently moved to Florida. Shows may have disclaimers but they're easily ignored because they're pushed at the end of episodes or not given much attention. There was another episode that pretty much said that aliens created mankind on earth to mine gold because the alien homeworld's atmosphere is made out of it, and he vehemently believed it, shouting things like "HOW DO THEY KNOW ABOUT THIS?? THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A SECRET!!! OH MAN THE GOVERNMENT IS GONNA BE SO MAD THAT WE KNOW NOW!", all while still trying to pose himself as a hardcore christian conservative literal-bible truther. I wonder what Jesus would think about one of his faithful followers having a contradictory belief. I'm not sure if this is related at all, but he's also got the biggest unironic man-crush on Ron Paul--I'll let you guys decide.
Click to expand...
Just...wow. I mean seriously wow. I asked one question and i escalated...quickly. Either way you know what I do think is real. Aliens. Hear me out. In a huge galaxy with dozens of planets isn't it possible that one has some sort of life? Be it organic or artificial. Maybe there's a race of robots living out there you never know. Point being that some astronomers believe there are wormholes(different from blackholes, you cannot survive a blackhole) at the center of each may be away to get to another dimension with billions of alternate galaxies. Which also have wormholes, etc. In otherwords the multi-verse theory can apply to finding extraterrestrials as well. But thats all my opinion.
 
Hypochondriac Mario said:
It's a good thing I don't watch TV or whatever.
Click to expand...

That's not the point. There are really great shows on TV and you just have to have the sense to find them.

And, to put it frankly, your brother's girlfriend's mother has a bigot boyfriend. I can't image living with people who label others as a "Northern Liberal *bleep* Yankee" (there's absolutely nothing wrong being a liberal unlike being a fundamentalist), much less, incorrectly. What kind of garbage did he listen to to spew such inane rubbish like this?

Class, this is why we need to teach critical thinking at our schools.
Click to expand...

And yeah he's a pretty terrible person in a whole bunch of other ways but it's all personal family blah blah stuff. I think it's because he got a ton of money and a easy-but-high-paying job too young in his life and he never fully matured into a sensible human being.

Also I did a critical thinking paper in my one class in college, about 15 pages I can't remember, and it was pretty gr8. We had to take a source of information of some kind on the internet and critique the shit out of it. I chose the FBI website and determined that while it was great for making kids believe that the FBI and the work they do is really damn cool, the information on there ranges from baby stuff to top-of-the-field holding 14 doctorates genius in order to interpret it. Any real information was buried within multiple-thousand-page documents with no search function.

ernesth100 said:
Just...wow. I mean seriously wow. I asked one question and i escalated...quickly. Either way you know what I do think is real. Aliens. Hear me out. In a huge galaxy with dozens of planets isn't it possible that one has some sort of life? Be it organic or artificial. Maybe there's a race of robots living out there you never know. Point being that some astronomers believe there are wormholes(different from blackholes, you cannot survive a blackhole) at the center of each may be away to get to another dimension with billions of alternate galaxies. Which also have wormholes, etc. In otherwords the multi-verse theory can apply to finding extraterrestrials as well. But thats all my opinion.
Click to expand...

I believe that the existence of aliens is wholly possible, simply due to the statistics and probability of everything. I'm not so sure there's the fantastical creatures that television dramas make stories out of, but why not simple life like bacteria, or even plants? Rudimentary animals? There's something out there.
 
Morty said:
Hypochondriac Mario said:
It's a good thing I don't watch TV or whatever.
Click to expand...

That's not the point. There are really great shows on TV and you just have to have the sense to find them.
Click to expand...

Well, I probably implied that TV is a bad thing. There are, however, a lot of junk shows lately (well, actually all the time), and the main reason I don't watch TV is that I don't know where to start looking. Plus, I'm just cynical of a lot of things (such as money-driven attempts to raise awareness to save cute animals rather than actually saving animals) Also, I'd be doing other things. Nevertheless, I'll try actively avoiding that program (and similar ones) now.

Morty said:
Hypochondriac Mario said:
And, to put it frankly, your brother's girlfriend's mother has a bigot boyfriend. I can't image living with people who label others as a "Northern Liberal *bleep* Yankee" (there's absolutely nothing wrong being a liberal unlike being a fundamentalist), much less, incorrectly. What kind of garbage did he listen to to spew such inane rubbish like this?

Class, this is why we need to teach critical thinking at our schools.
Click to expand...

And yeah he's a pretty terrible person in a whole bunch of other ways but it's all personal family blah blah stuff. I think it's because he got a ton of money and a easy-but-high-paying job too young in his life and he never fully matured into a sensible human being.

Also I did a critical thinking paper in my one class in college, about 15 pages I can't remember, and it was pretty gr8. We had to take a source of information of some kind on the internet and critique the *bleep* out of it. I chose the FBI website and determined that while it was great for making kids believe that the FBI and the work they do is really dang cool, the information on there ranges from baby stuff to top-of-the-field holding 14 doctorates genius in order to interpret it. Any real information was buried within multiple-thousand-page documents with no search function.
Click to expand...
I'm okay with his existence.

He should just stay out of the voting booth.

With the ever-increasing access to information, critical thinking classes should be REQUIRED in the school curriculum.
 
Hypochondriac Mario said:
Dr. Javelin said:
Dr. Murder said:
Did you know that you have a lot more chances of winning some huge lottery game than getting killed by a shark?
Click to expand...
skewed statistic. while a death by shark is highly unlikely, being attacked by one (and possibly losing a limb) is far more common
Click to expand...

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/11/22/nat-geo-wild-what-are-the-odds-some-surprising-shark-attack-stats/
Click to expand...
That's also a skewed statistic. Observe how it says "In the year ____, sharks injured ____ humans". Which means that it could easily be a cherrypicked year.

Additionally, most of the other statistics are (again) referring to number of shark fatalities, not shark attacks.
 
Dr. Javelin said:
Hypochondriac Mario said:
Dr. Javelin said:
Dr. Murder said:
Did you know that you have a lot more chances of winning some huge lottery game than getting killed by a shark?
Click to expand...
skewed statistic. while a death by shark is highly unlikely, being attacked by one (and possibly losing a limb) is far more common
Click to expand...

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/11/22/nat-geo-wild-what-are-the-odds-some-surprising-shark-attack-stats/
Click to expand...
That's also a skewed statistic. Observe how it says "In the year ____, sharks injured ____ humans". Which means that it could easily be a cherrypicked year.

Additionally, most of the other statistics are (again) referring to number of shark fatalities, not shark attacks.
Click to expand...

Did you not read the second half of the post or did you do some cherrypicking of your own

According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), between 1580 and 2013 there were 2,667 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks around the world, of which 495 were fatal.
Click to expand...

2,667, out of what, billions of people that have ever lived? There are some unreported shark attacks (like those that disappear after shipwrecks), but it won't increase the number by a lot.
Click to expand...
 
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