the system tries to breed heroes, but that's not how they're made.
Irish Teenager Wins Global Science Award for Removing Microplastics from Water
81–90 of 141 posts
Re: Irish Teenager Wins Global Science Award for Removing Microplastics from Water
#82Maybe it was the cynical in me, but I wonder why those "teenager will save the world" relates are so popular (but often show so few results at long term). Some awards seem just a way to pose, borrow some good ideas, obtain a photo and a cover page and this is all. Will be interesting to see how this ends
Because in reality the teenager's mental output isn't higher than a random adult engineer. But people just think "amazing" when a teenager does something, because people now have very low expectation for teenagers.
There's also good societal reason to encourage teenagers like this to undertake another 4-8 years of difficult education to become those random adult engineers.
Showing them "hey what you can do with your mind is valued by society" might help do that.
Re: Irish Teenager Wins Global Science Award for Removing Microplastics from Water
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an Irish person, I feel both proud of his work and saddened by the fact that our own university research system is so lacking he has to move abroad.
Well, don't take it bad. Ireland has like 5 million people? How would it have/support an adequate university research system to support a top-tier talent?
You may be familiar with a certain Linus Torvalds.
Finland has a population of 5M.
Granted, he moved later, but that's a counterexample for the first ~30 years at least.
Re: Irish Teenager Wins Global Science Award for Removing Microplastics from Water
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Superstars exist, dude. The only actionable view is to improve on the current you. Sometimes there will be things you're not good enough to do or that you don't want enough to practise enough. I can't ollie a board. Such is life.
if you actually want to learn how to ollie, it's very achievable. just try to commit some time to it every day. it's a weird motion to get used to at first but once you understand what it feels like to pop the board the right way you never lose it.
Yep. I learned to ollie at like, 26? It's just scary because as a 15 year old you don't care about falling as much.
Re: Irish Teenager Wins Global Science Award for Removing Microplastics from Water
#85Sure, but why? What harm do these things do? I know, lots of articles are published that cite one another. But none of them have any actual harm documented. They just vaguely refer to one another with "It's well-known that these things are harmful" and then cite another article that says the same thing. It reminds me of 'solar roads', another hyped-up internet sensation based on nothing.
There is evidence that earthworms fail to thrive in soil containing microplastics (but it is not quite clear why)[0]. That then has knock-on effects for soil health and farming. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/12/worms-fa...
Actually, that showed that some microplastics also helped earthworms. So a mixed result.
So, a graduate student and half a dozen flower pots are the sum total of evidence driving this hysteria?
Re: Irish Teenager Wins Global Science Award for Removing Microplastics from Water
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sounds like he has parents from different countries, first name is Irish, surname sounds Portuguese(?) so head start there on the language front, perhaps. Schull is a very small community, couple of thousand max but there's been a lot of 'alternative' type immigration there from other first world countries, artists etc from places like England (eg Jeremy irons), Netherlands so its secondary school is pretty progressi…
This reads like a figurative kick in the face to those who argue against free education and social programmes "because the market will solve it and those that work hard enough will make it, so it's fair". The world is deeply unjust economically and the vast majority loses from that, and those, that manage the inquality by using the cheap larbor and forced constraints of the disadvantaged to serve the more fortunate o…
> there should be a big consensus for universal conditionless free education, social security and health insurance backed by the government.
You allude to the best argument for these things, something like: "people are born into the world with a set of advantages and disadvantages they neither earned nor deserve, so we should do our best to even the playing field".
But you missed the mark in terms of identifying the best argument from the other side. "Because the market will solve it and those that work hard enough will make it, so it's fair" is not the argument. That's a just world hypothesis. The good argument is: high taxes and large social programs distort economic incentives; if you "tax the rich at 70%," people will behave differently, and your society will be less wealthy as a result. Which would you rather have? A wealthy society with inequality or a poor society without inequality? Anyway, the fundamental point here is that all human progress is agonistic, and "evening the playing field" will result in less progress, not more.
We're trying to walk the line between these two perspectives. We have "free" social programs but wealth still buys all kinds of advantages. I think we're doing a fairly good job, but it's imperative that we take both sides of this argument seriously. There's no reason to think we can have our cake and eat it.
Re: Irish Teenager Wins Global Science Award for Removing Microplastics from Water
#87Sure, but why? What harm do these things do? I know, lots of articles are published that cite one another. But none of them have any actual harm documented. They just vaguely refer to one another with "It's well-known that these things are harmful" and then cite another article that says the same thing. It reminds me of 'solar roads', another hyped-up internet sensation based on nothing.
Everything that exists on Earth such as oceans, jungles and all animals took millions of years to develop without having microplastics inside of them, to even suggest they are not harmful would requiere extremely strong evidence to prove such an external interference on such delicate equilibrium inside bodies does absolutely nothing. And by the way many articles do not cite each other and have original research on th…
One study, then. And that earthworm citation again! One tiny, tiny study of half a dozen flower pots doesn't seem to warrant global furor. And the study returned mixed results, with some earthworms apparently helped by microplastics.
There's sand of every size, everywhere. To show another kind of sand is of importance requires some evidence.
Re: Irish Teenager Wins Global Science Award for Removing Microplastics from Water
#88"Ferrier sat his Leaving Certificate exams last month at Schull Community College and is due to attend university in the Netherlands. The teenager works as a curator at the Schull Planetarium, has won 12 science fair awards, speaks three languages fluently, plays the trumpet at orchestra level, and had a minor planet named after him by the MIT Lincoln Laboratory." Anyone else feeling somewhat inadequate in comparison…
> had a minor planet named after him by the MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
I could somewhat deal with the rest with a shoulder shrug, but this one is what makes it too hard to swallow :)
Re: Irish Teenager Wins Global Science Award for Removing Microplastics from Water
#89Sure, but why? What harm do these things do? I know, lots of articles are published that cite one another. But none of them have any actual harm documented. They just vaguely refer to one another with "It's well-known that these things are harmful" and then cite another article that says the same thing. It reminds me of 'solar roads', another hyped-up internet sensation based on nothing.
Evidence suggests microplastics in water pose ‘minimal health risk’ (bbc.com) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20766496
Right:
"The WHO says the evidence suggests that all larger plastic particles, and most of the smaller ones, simply pass through the body without being absorbed at all"
Re: Irish Teenager Wins Global Science Award for Removing Microplastics from Water
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
This reads like a figurative kick in the face to those who argue against free education and social programmes "because the market will solve it and those that work hard enough will make it, so it's fair". The world is deeply unjust economically and the vast majority loses from that, and those, that manage the inquality by using the cheap larbor and forced constraints of the disadvantaged to serve the more fortunate o…
> The world is deeply unjust economically.......and I feel stupidified when I see how these programmes aren't yet serious international standards. It's not really that simple. Taking, by force, from Person A to raise Person B's children is complicated especially if you're worried about justness.
Person's A child won't be held back tangibly if instead of a living on a 100+ million family fortune, that instead it's a fraction of that due to equalization of education efforts. Man cannot be born as equals when one child could buy their entire university, while another cannot even afford basic living.