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Gravitational wave researchers cast new light on Antikythera mechanism mystery

gla.ac.uk

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Re: Gravitational wave researchers cast new light on Antikythera mechanism mystery

#51

Post by bryan0 »

lupusreal wrote: post #12
Schiphol wrote: post #3

The paper [here]( https://bhi.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/07-HJJuly24-AOT... ) makes it clear that these researchers (whose main topic is gravitational waves) have used Bayesian analyses to estimate how likely different counts for holes present in the full calendar ring are. This is cool, but the bit about "techniques developed to analyse the ripples in spacetime" is, well, making reference to Bayesian analysis.

Why is science reporting such irredeemable clickbaity trash? Not just from the mainstream media with commercial motive, from whom I naturally expect trash, but also from nonprofit universities of all places. Seriously, who is the intended audience of this headline? People who only read the headline and think "Woweee science is amazing!" before scrolling down? Anybody who reads the article will roll their eyes at the…

You shouldn’t be so surprised, university PR depts are notorious for clickbait like this. These types of articles are all over HN. They are just incentivized to get their name in the press by whatever means necessary.

Re: Gravitational wave researchers cast new light on Antikythera mechanism mystery

#52

Post by ggm »

yinser wrote: post #10

Greeks were cooking with gas (from the paper): “However, we note that the degree of manufacturing precision is remarkable, with standard errors in hole positions of only 0.028mm radially, and 0.129mm azimuthally. Budiselic et al. quote a standard deviation for their individual position measurements of 0.037 mm, so a good deal of the radial error may come from the measurements of the X-ray images themselves.”

Thread and a far larger circle.

Re: Gravitational wave researchers cast new light on Antikythera mechanism mystery

#53

Post by dekhn »

lupusreal wrote: post #12
Schiphol wrote: post #3

The paper [here]( https://bhi.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/07-HJJuly24-AOT... ) makes it clear that these researchers (whose main topic is gravitational waves) have used Bayesian analyses to estimate how likely different counts for holes present in the full calendar ring are. This is cool, but the bit about "techniques developed to analyse the ripples in spacetime" is, well, making reference to Bayesian analysis.

Why is science reporting such irredeemable clickbaity trash? Not just from the mainstream media with commercial motive, from whom I naturally expect trash, but also from nonprofit universities of all places. Seriously, who is the intended audience of this headline? People who only read the headline and think "Woweee science is amazing!" before scrolling down? Anybody who reads the article will roll their eyes at the…

The intended recipients of these press releases are mainly the people who make decisions for funding agencies. Due to the highly competitive nature of funding, people working in fairly esoteric (if interesting) fields like gravity waves need to demonstrate some sort of applicability to adjacent areas of science.

In USA biology, there is a similar problem- it's known as the "Make Senators Believe Your Funding Will Cure Their Disease Problem" whereby even the simplest basic discoveries get pumped up to sound like they've cured cancer to induce future funding.

Re: Gravitational wave researchers cast new light on Antikythera mechanism mystery

#54

Post by nimish »

lupusreal wrote: post #12
Schiphol wrote: post #3

The paper [here]( https://bhi.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/07-HJJuly24-AOT... ) makes it clear that these researchers (whose main topic is gravitational waves) have used Bayesian analyses to estimate how likely different counts for holes present in the full calendar ring are. This is cool, but the bit about "techniques developed to analyse the ripples in spacetime" is, well, making reference to Bayesian analysis.

Why is science reporting such irredeemable clickbaity trash? Not just from the mainstream media with commercial motive, from whom I naturally expect trash, but also from nonprofit universities of all places. Seriously, who is the intended audience of this headline? People who only read the headline and think "Woweee science is amazing!" before scrolling down? Anybody who reads the article will roll their eyes at the…

Science is not magically immune to the same pressures that corrupt every other news and information source.

Re: Gravitational wave researchers cast new light on Antikythera mechanism mystery

#55

Post by Ankaios »

lupusreal wrote: post #12
Schiphol wrote: post #3

The paper [here]( https://bhi.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/07-HJJuly24-AOT... ) makes it clear that these researchers (whose main topic is gravitational waves) have used Bayesian analyses to estimate how likely different counts for holes present in the full calendar ring are. This is cool, but the bit about "techniques developed to analyse the ripples in spacetime" is, well, making reference to Bayesian analysis.

Why is science reporting such irredeemable clickbaity trash? Not just from the mainstream media with commercial motive, from whom I naturally expect trash, but also from nonprofit universities of all places. Seriously, who is the intended audience of this headline? People who only read the headline and think "Woweee science is amazing!" before scrolling down? Anybody who reads the article will roll their eyes at the…

Why is science reporting such irredeemable clickbaity trash? Not just from the mainstream media with commercial motive, from whom I naturally expect trash, but also from nonprofit universities of all places.

Seriously, who is the intended audience of this headline?

University science-by-press-release drives me crazy, too. My guess has been that the intended audience is alums that might be enticed to donate more.

Re: Gravitational wave researchers cast new light on Antikythera mechanism mystery

#56

Post by dekhn »

refulgentis wrote: post #40
lupusreal wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"it seems intended to give wild impressions which are contrary to truth, namely that the mechanism had anything to do with gravitational waves" It's not technically lying but it will nonetheless induce people to think something which isn't true. If this confuses you, consider this article/example: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20171114-the-disturbing-a... > "A classic example might be if your mum asks if you've…

Running through this in my head again and again, and editing 500 times along the way, apologies. I'm done now: You believe that it is narrowly true gravitational wave researchers did this, like a kid saying they "wrote their essay" in response to whether they "did [completed] their homework" I believe it is wholly true. I believe we agree on the narrow truth that they are gravitational wave researchers. I believe we…

The goal of the authors of the PR is to promote a narrative. In this case, the PR intends to increase funding for gravity wave research by imputing its utility in another field.

From The ELements of Style, Strunk and White, omit needless words. Dropping "Gravitational waves" from the title conveys the same information.

The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White: Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

Re: Gravitational wave researchers cast new light on Antikythera mechanism mystery

#57

Post by dekhn »

IvyMike wrote: post #50

I'm currently building this 3d printed version of the Antikythera mechanism. It's not easy: https://www.printables.com/model/284372-antikythera-mechanis... It is insane how complicated this is, and this is a simplified version of the actual thing. This schematic of the proposed full mechanism (I think it's hypothesizing some of the missing parts) blows my mind: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Anti…

This is one situation where metalwork probably beats 3d printing, in terms of ease of implementation.

My guess is that the antikythera was probably state of the art, built by a highly advanced workshop by extremely skilled artisans, and cost an obscene amount of money. Like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison#H4

Re: Gravitational wave researchers cast new light on Antikythera mechanism mystery

#58

Post by gmiller123456 »

wildekek wrote: post #6
drexlspivey wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This guy is re-creating using only materials available at the time: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsHnyxfygxA0...

Clickspring is the most skilled machinist of youtube. Watching him work is so incredibly satisfying.

Not sure about "most skilled", as there are some very good machinist with skills in different areas. I'd say he's definatley the most patient, learning and explaining ancient methods and every step along the way. And the videos are certainly of the most visually appealing.

Re: Gravitational wave researchers cast new light on Antikythera mechanism mystery

#59

Post by mcphage »

dekhn wrote: post #53
lupusreal wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is science reporting such irredeemable clickbaity trash? Not just from the mainstream media with commercial motive, from whom I naturally expect trash, but also from nonprofit universities of all places. Seriously, who is the intended audience of this headline? People who only read the headline and think "Woweee science is amazing!" before scrolling down? Anybody who reads the article will roll their eyes at the…

The intended recipients of these press releases are mainly the people who make decisions for funding agencies. Due to the highly competitive nature of funding, people working in fairly esoteric (if interesting) fields like gravity waves need to demonstrate some sort of applicability to adjacent areas of science. In USA biology, there is a similar problem- it's known as the "Make Senators Believe Your Funding Will Cur…

I’ve heard recently that a lot of the research funding for looking for the Loch Ness Monster is to marine biologists, who study the life in the lake (and also look for a monster a little bit, as a treat).

Re: Gravitational wave researchers cast new light on Antikythera mechanism mystery

#60

Post by BostonFern »

api wrote: post #11
yinser wrote: post #10

Greeks were cooking with gas (from the paper): “However, we note that the degree of manufacturing precision is remarkable, with standard errors in hole positions of only 0.028mm radially, and 0.129mm azimuthally. Budiselic et al. quote a standard deviation for their individual position measurements of 0.037 mm, so a good deal of the radial error may come from the measurements of the X-ray images themselves.”

It seems like the high ancient world was so close to industrializing. Just a few missing pieces, probably a more rigorous scientific method and mathematics. Maybe some economic inventions too like the stock corporation to enable venture investing. I also wonder about the abolition of slavery. It was normal through pretty much all of human history up to the last 200 years or so. Why build machines at great scale when…

There are more people enslaved today than any other time in human history.
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