A link to a wee comic

[minoanmiss]

"How scientists see the world": https://abstrusegoose.com/275



I rather love this. I appreciate the little science I know from my education and continued reading and exploration, and the more I know about how the universe works the more I appreciate it. One of my pet peeves is Keats' whine about "unweaving the rainbow", the pernicious idea that understanding something kills the joy in it. I LOVE knowing why rainbows exist, and knowing so has helped me find them. I love knowing stuff. I wish I knew more math, as it's the language the universe is written in.

I am toying with the idea of writing a post about how we only know Saturn has beautiful rings because of science (the telescope) and how those rings are relativley fleeting (from what I understand, rings are a gravity-organized collection of debris that were caused by the destruction or non-coalition of moons and will eventually either fall into the planet or disperse) and yet by living right now and with the tech we have, we get to see them in all their glory.

Comments

[bikergeek]

*likes this*

[amaebi]

And science has reified conceptions of the universe as All Connected, with empirical evidence.

("Common sense" likes to sort things out in divided plates with no touching, and auto-condemns systems thought as squishy.)

[lindahoyland]

I love it! I like to know things as I appreciate them more. I've a friend like Keats.

[stranger]

Your paragraph about Saturn's rings opens up the possibility that other planets have had rings in other eras of the solar system. That would have been a spectacle.

[mdlbear]

That's lovely! Thank you!

[hitchhiker]

i love it too!

[cjsmith]

That's super! I disagree with the hovertext. Like you, I am one of those people for whom wonder and beauty only increase as we gain more understanding.

[minoanmiss]

I didn't even see the hover text. I may have to point out to them what beauty they've depicted. :D

[gale_storm]

Me, too! (This is meant totally differently to the 'Me, too!' statement that had cycled around the interwebz earlier this year.)

[sabotabby]

Yes. I think understanding science makes the world more beautiful and exciting, not less.

[nagi_schwarz]

I live with a scientist, and he says the best scientific training he ever got wasn’t in the classroom or lab but on the job site as a construction worker, which was basically endless problem-solving, and often without the academic safety net of knowing there was a right answer or a right way. Scientists are usually out to find out things no one knows anyway, he often says to me. He sees the world not as formulas and numbers but as problems to overcome. He’s less with the formulas and more with a metaphorical sledgehammer, smashing things to either get them out of the way or get at what’s inside - and he’s prepared to be surprised. Since a couple of my favorite fictional characters are scientists, my husband likes to offer up his insider opinion on how scientists are portrayed in the world and media. He has...strong opinions.

Granted, my husband is the sort of scientist that everyone thinks is a dumb redneck or slack-jawed Marine when they first meet him, so...

(He would like me to point out that his lab has a bunch of dudes who are totally ripped and he’d bet on his lab in a brawl anytime.)

I have observed that he is endlessly curious. About everything. Have a question about the care and breeding of pandas? He will spend half an hour researching the issue because he just wants to know. Because knowing is an end unto itself for him. Maybe he sees the world as a series of stones he has yet to turn over.

...He does describe our baby girl’s chubby belly in terms of tangent curves and derivatives, and he has expressed some interest in running linear regressions on the data I’ve collected about her eating and sleeping habits.

[minoanmiss]

OH MY GOD. I am overwhelmed with his adorability. Please kiss him for me.

[nagi_schwarz]

LOL. He can be super adorable, no lies. But most people think he's the curmudgeonly maintenance guy showing up to fix a machine and then he's all...PhD nerdy and they're very confused.

One time a woman I worked with thought he was a fireman. I think I need to buy him some pocket protectors so people will believe he's a scientist.

[acelightning]

I also find that knowing the science behind a phenomenon makes it more magical and intriguing, not less so. The aurora is no less beautiful because I know it is caused by low-density atmospheric gases being ionized by charged particles from the Sun, which makes them glow like the gas in a neon sign. The stars are no less beautiful because I know they are trillions of miles away from me. Flowers are no less beautiful because I know they are brightly colored and pleasantly scented in order to attract small mobile creatures to help the plants reproduce.

And, of course, I agree that it's wonderful that our technology made it possible for us to see the rings of Saturn (and eventually to discover that Earth has something similar to a ring). It has made it possible for us to take that "one small step" onto the surface of an object other than the one we were born on. It has made it possible for us to get incredible photos with the Hubble telescope that reveal the beauty that lies far, far away. It has made it possible for us to have beautiful friendships with people we've never met in person.

[asakiyume]

Love-love-love what you say about the rings of Saturn, and I agree with you about rainbows. Furthermore, understanding how, technically, they come about doesn't make my wonder at them *at all*. When we were seeing all those rainbows last weekend, I was busy exclaiming How can this beeeee!--and I knew, technically, how it could be, but still, it just was mindblowingly amazing in actuality.