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How a Shrimp Treadmill Became a Political Plaything

chronicle.com

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Re: How a Shrimp Treadmill Became a Political Plaything

#111

Post by brohoolio »

sharkweek wrote: post #5

I highly recommend folks watch Particle Fever (for a variety of reasons, and it's on Netflix), but one section particularly stuck out, when the documentary addresses the original LHC location in Texas being de-funded. It shows members of congress arguing how "discovering the origins of the universe" should not be a priority. I think it's easy to make a very public argument against budgeting research, as the general p…

Particle Fever is damn good. It hit me right in the feels when Peter Higgs is shown crying.

That darn machine is so complex.

Re: How a Shrimp Treadmill Became a Political Plaything

#112

Post by hobs »

bayesianhorse wrote: post #108
bayesianhorse wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you are saying pictures of scenes degrading and objectifying women as sexual objects can't make women feel degraded and objectified?

It's appalling that in the science/tech community there is so little understanding for these issues. In a perfectly equal world, yes, such a shirt would be just completely inappropriate instead of demeaning. But science does have a sexual abuse problem. Some established male scientists do choose their female collaborators according to taste. Sexual violence does have a tendency of being initiated by men against women…

>But science does have a sexual abuse problem. Some established male scientists do choose their female collaborators according to taste. Sexual violence does have a tendency of being initiated by men against women.

I dont think you are wrong about this, but painting individual men with the same broad stroke that is frequently is being applied to women to dehumanize them and discount their achievements isnt the right answer to right the wrongs you are listing.

There are plenty of women's issues that are waiting to be championed that are not what amounts to bikeshedding.

Re: How a Shrimp Treadmill Became a Political Plaything

#114

Post by evan_ »

hobs wrote: post #112
bayesianhorse wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's appalling that in the science/tech community there is so little understanding for these issues. In a perfectly equal world, yes, such a shirt would be just completely inappropriate instead of demeaning. But science does have a sexual abuse problem. Some established male scientists do choose their female collaborators according to taste. Sexual violence does have a tendency of being initiated by men against women…

>But science does have a sexual abuse problem. Some established male scientists do choose their female collaborators according to taste. Sexual violence does have a tendency of being initiated by men against women. I dont think you are wrong about this, but painting individual men with the same broad stroke that is frequently is being applied to women to dehumanize them and discount their achievements isnt the right…

> but painting individual men with the same broad stroke

"Not all men!"

Re: How a Shrimp Treadmill Became a Political Plaything

#115

Post by nikomen »

DanBC wrote: post #101

> Mike Huckabee linked the National Science Foundation’s funding of shrimp-treadmill studies to limited military spending How the fuck did he manage that? How many hours would $300m last the military?

According to Wikipedia, US military spending is about $643 billion. So, $300m would last about 4 hours.

Those shrimp really are stealing a lot from the military.

Re: How a Shrimp Treadmill Became a Political Plaything

#116

Post by MereInterest »

Houshalter wrote: post #65
sharkweek wrote: post #5

I highly recommend folks watch Particle Fever (for a variety of reasons, and it's on Netflix), but one section particularly stuck out, when the documentary addresses the original LHC location in Texas being de-funded. It shows members of congress arguing how "discovering the origins of the universe" should not be a priority. I think it's easy to make a very public argument against budgeting research, as the general p…

Has the LHC ever produced any benefit to humanity? Serious question.

First off, let's start with Benjamin Franklin's "What good is a newborn baby?" quote, when asked what good electricity could ever do. Primary research leads to unknown and unknowable benefits, because it is impossible to know what will come of it.

As an example, let's consider the magnetic moment of the proton. It's a rather esoteric measurement. The proton acts as a tiny magnet, and some researchers wanted to know exactly how strong of a magnet. So, they set up a strong magnetic field and looked to see how the proton behaved. They ended up finding two different values.

As it turned out, those two different values were the result of electrons getting in the way of the measurement. As it turned out, there were two different chemical environments in the molecule being studied, and that caused the two different values. The chemists loved it, because then they could directly measure the electron density.

Then the doctors realized that the chemists had an awesome tool. They could use it to measure the concentration of water inside a patient's body. Bam, MRI.

All this from esoteric primary research.

Re: How a Shrimp Treadmill Became a Political Plaything

#117

Post by zo1 »

icelancer wrote: post #89
wozniacki wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When these topics, concerning the general disinterestedness and the indifference of the voting populace toward science and technology come up, one is left to wonder how it is even arithmetically possible in 2014, that there isn't yet a financially lofty interest-group apparatus in Washington, advancing policies that collectively foster the cause of basic research in science & tech. Where are the think tanks? Where ar…

>one is left to wonder how it is even arithmetically possible in 2014, that there isn't yet a financially lofty interest-group apparatus in Washington, advancing policies that collectively foster the cause of basic research in science & tech. Not really. People who are interested in actually contributing to the world by scientific research and technological innovation have zero interest in a field that is overwhelmin…

>"People who are interested in actually contributing to the world by scientific research and technological innovation have zero interest in a field that is overwhelmingly useless and idiotic: Politics."

You say politics as a field is deemed useless by those people, and yet the funding for them to pursue the thing they are interested in is directly affected by said "useless field".

Re: How a Shrimp Treadmill Became a Political Plaything

#119

Post by crazy1van »

sharkweek wrote: post #5

I highly recommend folks watch Particle Fever (for a variety of reasons, and it's on Netflix), but one section particularly stuck out, when the documentary addresses the original LHC location in Texas being de-funded. It shows members of congress arguing how "discovering the origins of the universe" should not be a priority. I think it's easy to make a very public argument against budgeting research, as the general p…

> It shows members of congress arguing how "discovering the origins of the universe" should not be a priority.

If that sentence ended with "for government", then I agree with those members of congress.

If that sentence ended with "for humanity", then I disagree. It's time to accept that in the modern internet connected world people can pool their abilities and resources with others anywhere on the planet for common goals all without the government.

Re: How a Shrimp Treadmill Became a Political Plaything

#120

Post by protomyth »

Look, this happens for every facet of government spending and both parties know exactly how to phrase their soundbite to make it worse. Anyone taking government funding for any project better be ready to deal with an out of context soundbite in a professional and calm manner. It is the nature of the beast. You are using someone else's money for something and the someone else gets a bit peeved that s/he had to give up the money in the first place.

The common refrain that Republicans don't understand science or Democrats don't understand business is not true and not your friend. JackFr's comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8611038 points out some of the good lines that contradict the tried and true arguments.

The proper way to deal with these type of things is learn that you are taking money, its not your right, and show how you are actually being innovative and saving the taxpayers money or show what family members you are saving with your activity.

I've seen enough people doing amazing work on the taxpayers dime that really saved the taxpayers money in the long run (early childhood screenings for example) that knew how to properly phrase their work to make both parties their champion.

tldr: you take the taxpayer's money then be ready to do PR

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