Earlier quoted context omitted.
Keep in mind we seldom really need them, but, when we do, we need them really, really bad.
Actually, by most accounts we did fine without them for 200,000 years.
The dinosaurs beg to differ.
The only thing that can stop this asteroid is your liberal arts degree
51–60 of 68 posts
Re: The only thing that can stop this asteroid is your liberal arts degree
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hell, you can even start pointing at particular bits of science. For example, there would be mass famine without the Haber-Bosch process for ammonia synthesis.
Of course, without this process producing a lot of available nitrogen to use in making explosives during the first half of the 20th century we would probably also have avoided two world wars. Occasional famines and a lower upper-limit on human population or millions dead from guns and bombs... interesting set of choices.
Number of people people killed in major wars in the 20th century (moderately pessimistic estimate): 100,000,000
Number of people in the 20th century saved from starvation by green revolution: 1,000,000,000
Average life expectancy in 1900: 35 years
Average life expectancy in 2000: 65 years
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_and_disasters_by_d... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug
Net 900,000,000 lives saved? I'll take that deal any day.
Re: The only thing that can stop this asteroid is your liberal arts degree
#53The term liberal arts denotes a curriculum that imparts general knowledge and develops the student’s rational thought and intellectual capabilities, unlike the professional, vocational, technical curricula emphasizing specialization. The contemporary liberal arts comprise studying literature, languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, and science. In classical antiquity, the liberal arts denoted the education prope…
There's something to this. Modern society taxes (enslaves) the high earners (specialists) in favor of mostly giveaways to the middle and lower middle class (liberal arts majors) and to the very rich (bailouts). *note: originally I was writing this as a joke but it stopped feeling like one halfway through.
Dude, jokes aside. You forgot the masses that cannot even afford to go to college, and depend on your "giveaways"
Re: The only thing that can stop this asteroid is your liberal arts degree
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
We did just fine without them for a good couple dozen million years. It's just that we won't be able to do without them forever ;-) In fact, I like to tall my son the dinosaurs only died because they had neither rockets nor nukes.
You realize that Armageddon was just a Hollywood movie, right? :-) I am not sure if the same thing would be feasible in the real world, with current technology. Nor am I convinced that we will eventually be able to escape our dieing sun, but I keep my fingers crossed.
Unless we have a good couple years of advanced notice so we can gently push it in another direction, nukes are the best option. If you spread the thing wide enough, less of it will hit you. If the pieces are small enough, chances are few of them will do any damage.
It won't do much good if the thing is the size of a state, but mountain-sized rocks seem manageable this way.
Re: The only thing that can stop this asteroid is your liberal arts degree
#55Re: The only thing that can stop this asteroid is your liberal arts degree
#56Few things are more tedious than reading science majors endlessly, smugly belittle arts subjects. "Oh ho ho, something I don't understand and haven't done and probably couldn't do, they must be idiots, let's constantly mock them". I saw quite enough of that on slashdot so was very disappointed to see this sort of bilge get so many upvotes here. Thankfully some of the comments, at least, show a more nuanced grasp of reality.
Re: The only thing that can stop this asteroid is your liberal arts degree
#57Few things are more tedious than reading science majors endlessly, smugly belittle arts subjects. "Oh ho ho, something I don't understand and haven't done and probably couldn't do, they must be idiots, let's constantly mock them". I saw quite enough of that on slashdot so was very disappointed to see this sort of bilge get so many upvotes here. Thankfully some of the comments, at least, show a more nuanced grasp of r…
> I saw quite enough of that on slashdot so was very disappointed to see this sort of bilge get so many upvotes here.
A developed vocabulary is awesome, but you always got to consider who your audience is and why you're writing. If you're trying to persuade a lot of people, it's almost always better to choose the easier and more readable word instead of the bigger or deeper or more obscure word.
I read a hell of a lot, and I had to look bilge up to figure out exactly what you're saying - you could've just said "trash" instead and everyone would've got your meaning. Likewise, "tedious" could be "boring", "smugly belittle" could be "insult", you could drop "endlessly" altogether since it doesn't add any more information. Likewise, "quite enough" doesn't convey more than just the word "enough", "nuanced grasp of reality" could've just been "perspective". Here's how I'd write it:
> Few things are more tedious than reading science majors endlessly, smugly belittle arts subjects. "Oh ho ho, something I don't understand and haven't done and probably couldn't do, they must be idiots, let's constantly mock them". I saw quite enough of that on slashdot so was very disappointed to see this sort of bilge get so many upvotes here. Thankfully some of the comments, at least, show a more nuanced grasp of reality.
...becomes...
> It gets old reading science majors put down the arts. It's easier to mock something than it is to try to understand it. Sheesh, I saw enough of that on slashdot and I'm disappointed to see it here. It's good that at least a few commentors are taking the time to share a perspective from the other side.
So, you write less, it's faster, more people understand you, more are convinced, and you come across less arrogant. Anyways, I been there myself, I grew up reading lots of books and always used to choose the bigger word. Now I choose the simpler more readable way unless the bigger word is really necessary or conveys more.
Re: The only thing that can stop this asteroid is your liberal arts degree
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, by most accounts we did fine without them for 200,000 years.
We did just fine without them for a good couple dozen million years. It's just that we won't be able to do without them forever ;-) In fact, I like to tall my son the dinosaurs only died because they had neither rockets nor nukes.
Looking at the situation objectively, we will either destroy ourselves, or incidentally gain rocket technology capable of destroying an asteroid long before an extinction-level event occurs. There is no reason to make asteroid deflection a priority. There are far more pressing threats to the human race. Mostly the human race itself - and the humanities are the best defense against humans.
Re: The only thing that can stop this asteroid is your liberal arts degree
#59The real issue is the separation of Arts from Science. The best artists are scientists and the best scientists are artists. Was Da Vinci any more into liberal arts than science.
Anyone who specialises in a single viewpoint and is unable to compromise probably isn't a candidate for saving the earth.
Re: The only thing that can stop this asteroid is your liberal arts degree
#60Few things are more tedious than reading science majors endlessly, smugly belittle arts subjects. "Oh ho ho, something I don't understand and haven't done and probably couldn't do, they must be idiots, let's constantly mock them". I saw quite enough of that on slashdot so was very disappointed to see this sort of bilge get so many upvotes here. Thankfully some of the comments, at least, show a more nuanced grasp of r…
While studying engineering, I took lots of upper-level classes in history, philosophy, polysci, etc. I aced those classes without much effort. To really "learn to think", you have to push yourself to think about more complex and abstract ideas. Advanced math pushes your brain to its limits. Most liberal arts fields have very low levels of complexity. In most cases, it's just read & regurgitate. In adv. classes you might follow a few levels of indirection. This is trivial for scientists, but difficult for most others.