The Big Picture: Science!

Ukomba

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Has it occurred to anyone else that more and more people use the word "Science" like people use to use the word "Magic"?
 

Ghengis John

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KingPiccolOwned said:
Nicolaus99 said:
Google "Frankenfood". Good luck marketing THAT to people or convincing a grocery store to stock it.
He already did, and made a video about it. I suggest that you check his archives.
And that episode was awful. He didn't understand anything he was talking about, did not present any of the inherent dangers and painted people with opposing opinions to be paranoid luddites tantamount to torch-wielding villagers. If he'd have done his research instead of waving his church of science banner blindly he'd have seen GMOD foods raise legitimate concerns mostly centered around their environmental and economic impacts. NOT, as he presumed, when you eat them. But that is Bob, a large man full of hot air. It's not that I don't agree with him somewhat a lot of the time, his intentions are good, but the arguments he uses are often angry, flawed and ignorant. And those same opinions are parroted by people who don't know any better, which ruins all chance for rational discussion as the ripples travel outwards. I don't know how many GMOD discussions I've been in where somebody comes in and goes "Carrots, lol! BOB said so!" But you know what, anger sells these days and he seems to be doing well from it so why's he gonna listen to me? He hasn't yet. By the same token why should the powers that be care what he says?

I am at present rolling my eyes at his talk of culturing meat.

Scarim Coral said:
Well I can assume the people who think genetic engineer fruits and vegetables are a abomination mention ages ago on The Big Picture will think growing meat from cells is also a abomination even when there no killing animal involves (what can I say they are narrow minded people).
You can have your objections without using the word "abomination", you know. There are other, perfectly legitimate words. Try "Cross species barriers", "monsanto" or "genetic drift" out some time.
 

Mosstromo

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A Movie Bob is what science needs!
Right now there is a surplus of mad doctors and/or meek ones that want to make just one Modern Prometheus at a time. We need action. We need a man to get things done! I want to borrow your jet pack. Let's get this thing moving!
 

brazuca

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ReiverCorrupter said:
brazuca said:
The meat "problem" is not a science problem, it's a capitalism problem. Also the hunger in Africa is a capitalism problem (with more deep historical implications). We the 7 billion humans already produce more food than we actually need.
Don't kid yourself, it's a human greed problem. Did you forget that communism had its shot too? It failed because it didn't account for the greed and incompetence of bureaucrats. Capitalism is hardly perfect but it functions because it expects people to be greedy. The form of government or economic complex hardly matters, you'd have to change human nature itself.
I meant in the contest of harvesting artificial meat (much more expensive). I mean thinking that creating meat in a lab can solve hunger is naive. It is a capitalism problem as the much "easier" solution is the cheap one. And no URSS by definition was not communism, as if you ever go to history class (college degree level) they will teach you that URSS was a state capitalism (whatever that is).
 

cymonsgames

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Gluzzbung said:
Hate to say it, but the reason we're still on Earth is because any type of bacteria on another planet would kill everyone it touched, most likely.
Really? REALLY? You think the only reason we haven't developed space travel is because we're afraid of something we can't see? Why not worry about our souls being anchored to earth and traveling too far ripping it from our bodies leaving us soulless reavers or what about if the first hyperspace jump transforms the whole of the human race into giant jelly penises. Is bacteria really the best unfounded fear you could come up with to keep us from researching space travel?

"That's it, everybody. Pack it up and go home. Apparently there's a chance we might find a deadly space bacteria out there and we just can't take that risk."

MB202 said:
Also, about jetpacks, how are you going to solve the problem of having your pants and underpants burned off?
With SCIENCE. Duh.

MB202 said:
Father Time said:
Not all Jetpacks need to shoot fire, just something that can provide lift.
How's that work?
The Rocketter says alcohol based fuel is the key. Start looking there.

Father Time is right. Thrust does not necessarily mean fire. However thrust is often accompanied by fire because the mechanisms for delivering enough trust to counteract gravity generates a lot of heat. But it's not the heat that gets your butt off the ground. It's thr-r-r-r-r-ust.

Actually the bigger question is of fuel. Traditional fuel is heavy (and expensive). Once you make a jetpack big enough to carry enough fuel to keep you airborn long enough you end up with a small fighter jet. However if we could figure out a fuel source that packs a lot of thrust for a little weight and was preferably renewable we could get a person in the air without a whole jet around them. If it was renewable in flight, that would be even better. We'd never need to land.
 

TheAmazingHobo

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Ukomba said:
Has it occurred to anyone else that more and more people use the word "Science" like people use to use the word "Magic"?
Personally, I´m not sure whether to be kind of happy or kind of angry about that.
I mean on the one hand, it implies a certain amount of trust and faith in the power of science and a realization of just how important it is. On the other hands, some people seem to now genuinely believe that the only reason scientists haven´t done X (whereas X can be anything from curing cancer to building a blowjob dispensing anti-gravity device) is due to greed, lazyness or general corruption.
Okay, wait. I have figured out how I feel about this.
It´s definitly "kind of angry".
 

Tarik94

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Hey, mankind? you know we're friends right?

Could you do me a favor?

Here we go: Can you stop using nations to keep your species separated and fuels the war industry with money we could spend on more productive stuff like science and ending the world hunger, I would totally like you more for that!
 

Tarik94

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Hey, mankind? you know we're friends right?

Could you do me a favour?

Here we go: Can you stop using nations to keep your species separated and fuels the war industry with money we could spend on more productive stuff like science and ending the world hunger, I would totally like you more for that!

Beg my apologies for the double post.
 

MB202

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RadiusXd said:
MB202 said:
RadiusXd said:
MB202 said:
Wow... This episode was AWFUL! Bob really came off as a big dick in this episode. I mean, there was some stuff in the middle, but most of it made me want to punch Bob for being so immature about these things.
not sure if trolling.....
FYI, I never troll. I think trolling is stupid and wrong,a nd I don't see any enjoyment in purposefully pissing people off. What I said there was what I meant, I really don't like this episode, because Bob's demands from science came off as really piffy.

Not that it matters, this show is LITERALLY about saying whatever he wants to say, so I can't really fault him here for saying what's on his mind. I just think it's really stupid.
I was under the impression bob was just fooling around and doesn't expect anyone to take his requests seriously.....

EDIT: except for perhaps the cultured meat, but I immediately dismissed that as impractical for now. we already have a biological machine that produces beef with minimal upkeep and also provides fancy couch surfacing. it's called a cow.
I kind of got some of that around the time he said he intended to shit down people's chimney's, but it was still pretty distracting. Not to mention, I wasn't sure if he really meant for people to lie about oil on Mars just so we can move there. And there's no guarantee that we'll meet any green alien ladies, and even LESS of a guarantee that they'd find him attractive. Again, that might have been one of his sarcastic moments, but given how (pathetically, IMO) obsessed with sex Bob is, I'm not so sure.
 

M-JN

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Golan Trevize said:
M-JN said:
I suspect people have already mentioned, but PETA actually offered a million dollars to the first company who can make in vitro meat as tasty and satisfying to eat as animal meat. Best thing they've ever done, imo.
Just a million? No wonder nobody gives a crap.
Hey, when you have to beg and fight and discretely give handjobs for every dime of your grant money, you take what you can get.
 

The Random One

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Ha ha, so silly. It's like that guy in that SNL sketch. 'HEY ASSHOLES, WHY ARE YOU WASTING TIME STUDYING CANCER... DON'T STUDY IT, CURE IT!'
 

ReiverCorrupter

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brazuca said:
ReiverCorrupter said:
brazuca said:
The meat "problem" is not a science problem, it's a capitalism problem. Also the hunger in Africa is a capitalism problem (with more deep historical implications). We the 7 billion humans already produce more food than we actually need.
Don't kid yourself, it's a human greed problem. Did you forget that communism had its shot too? It failed because it didn't account for the greed and incompetence of bureaucrats. Capitalism is hardly perfect but it functions because it expects people to be greedy. The form of government or economic complex hardly matters, you'd have to change human nature itself.
I meant in the contest of harvesting artificial meat (much more expensive). I mean thinking that creating meat in a lab can solve hunger is naive. It is a capitalism problem as the much "easier" solution is the cheap one. And no URSS by definition was not communism, as if you ever go to history class (college degree level) they will teach you that URSS was a state capitalism (whatever that is).
Oh, I agree in regards to harvesting meat, that is a capitalism problem. Business are historically conservative in regards to new technology when they already have a technology that works, it goes for meat and energy. I was saying that our lack of willingness to help other countries is a result of human nature and not our specific economic system. And I didn't reference soviet Russia in particular. I doubt there were ever any pure forms of communism on the national level, the logistics alone would make it nearly impossible. My point is just that you can't blame capitalism for everything. Corruption and greed occur within all societies and economic systems, and the basic reason why we aren't helping Africa is simply that we don't really care as a society enough to seriously do anything about it. Some people do, but they are the minority. We would probably still refrain from giving them aid if we were socialists.
 

ThunderCavalier

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Dammit, Bob. You forgot the most important thing!

VIRTUAL REALITY. It'd probably get rid of all the no-scopers in CoD, and you get the personal satisfaction of decapitating that idiot that won't shut up in the pregame lobby.
 

Namewithheld

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BgRdMchne said:
Father Time said:
BgRdMchne said:
You are never going into space.
You will never own a jet pack.
Your car will never fly.
HIV will not be cured in your lifetime.
Cancer will not be cured in your lifetime.
The common cold will not be cured in your lifetime.
Don't these things bother you?
You don't know these things
Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

- Mark Twain

Hope is the denial of reality.

- Margaret Weis
And a witty quote proves nothing.

Also, uh,

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-biologists-anti-hiv-antibody-potency.html

We're getting closer to each of these cures every year. And since it's now possible to run a major biotechnology firm out of a garage (http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-10-bio-hacker-group-home.html), don't pull the BS "oh the corporations will crush it."

Newsflash.

Corporations are government backed dinosaurs that are on their way to extinction. The homebrew industrial revolution is coming, and we're going to see a major shift from mass production to individual creation and village economics soon.

The future has never looked so bright...or so terrifying. We're soon going to be living in a world where people will be able to construct super-ebola in their backyard...or live forever. A world where items can be produced basically for free by nanorobots...which can then also devour entire continents in gray goo.

It's exciting, isn't it?
 

oktalist

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Nicolaus99 said:
oktalist said:
Nicolaus99 said:
2: Back to including your liberal politics, on a website called "The Escapist". Irony fail.
What irony? Please explain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escapism
You may honestly have found the most badly written article on Wikipedia. Amazing.

If that does not clarify it for you, nothing will.
Perhaps a simple explanation would clarify it better than a link to an article with no central cohesive theme, that leaves me guessing which one of half a dozen different points you might have been trying to make.

I particularly like the entry's opening statement: Escapism is mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape" from the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life. It can also be used as a term to define the actions people take to help relieve persisting feelings of depression or general sadness.
OK so I think I've figured out that you're trying to say that "liberal politics" (a fairly broad term) are an attempt to escape from the unpleasantness of the world. I would have to agree with that. I also conclude that you, by extension, believe that they are a fruitless, ultimately meaningless form of escapism. I can agree or disagree with that depending on what exactly you mean by "liberal politics".

Apologies if I sound rude. It is not intended.
 

Mr.Mattress

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Jul 17, 2009
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I think I have rebuttals to all 3 of those things:

1: Because then thousands of Beef, Chicken, Pork, and other kinds of ranchers will loose their jobs and the unemployment rate will go higher. Plus, that Cultured Meat probably is bland as fudge.

2: Lying like that is illegal and can get you into some serious trouble. Especially with an attitude of "Yes, I lied, have fun with the Space ships". And honestly, without, you know, sending someone to these planets with the equipment to mine these minerals, it won't be conceivable. You'll be arrested before a single plane is built.

3: Different Genes that Bears don't have, waste of money, or the Dogs are just naturally Genetically Modified to be tiny.

Still a good video though.
 

Siege_TF

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Isn't there a rather large amount of Titanium on the moon? It's not quite gold, but it's near as damnit.

Also isn't Mars red because of all the iron? Again, it's not oil, but it's valuable.