Why do most people find science boring?

Discussion in 'General Science & Technology' started by Magical Realist, Oct 19, 2014.

  1. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    The difference between a general knowledge of cultural facts used in writing and interviews and a knowledge of facts about the natural world is the difference in their relevance to the person's life. One sees the relevance for conversation a good liberal arts education provides. History, the arts, literature, music, politics, food, geography, other cultures, language, current events, film, sports, religion. It is well-rounded and cultured. It is socializing and open to more experience. But to accumulate information about mere physical processes just to know about them is something different. It is a penchant for specialized data that would rarely if ever have relevance in real life. Sure it'll have relevance for a degree someday, that sheepskin that certifies you as an expert in mere book learning. But all that math and chemistry and physics will never have relevance to real life situations. It is an abstract thought world unto itself, sealed off from anything that is going on in your personal life. It is a compensation for something lacking in yourself. Your inability to be emotionally engaged by topics of common human interest. A sense of exclusion from the teeming social culture that surrounds you. So you escape into a universe ruled by laws and equations and ideal situations, but not the real one of human relationships and money and entertainment and the everyday tedium of a boring job. But then maybe that's not such a bad thing. We all have to escape the rat race. To repose into some lush green oasis after treking thru our daily modern wasteland. It may even be what we live for most of all.
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2015
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  3. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    Truer words were never said. All my knowledge of trees avails me not until I go out and live with them, working to survive in the woods. They may even then become metaphorical emblems of my life itself in all its sinuous interconnectivity. But even then, only my knowledge of the trees indemic to my area would be relevant.
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2015
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  5. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

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    What is this chip you have on your shoulder? So fanatically anti science, so keen to misinterpret, ignore, and just continue ranting.
    What good does it all do you?
    Your opinions in regards to science are absolutely and obviously wrong.
    And no matter how much you continue to rant and rave about science, nothing will change. The vast majority of the human race, know the benefits of science, even though they may not totally understand. They see the benefit, logic and total necessity of science all round them, everyday. They're not going to let that go, just because of some unsupported philosophical clap trap.


    Science is what you know. Philosophy is what you don't know.
    Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English philosopher, mathematician.

    [Science is] a great game. It is inspiring and refreshing. The playing field is the universe itself.
    Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898-1988) U. S. physicist. Nobel prize 1944.


     
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  7. krash661 [MK6] transitioning scifi to reality Valued Senior Member

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    can i ask why this continues to be about trees and you not being praised by your freinds of that knowledge, while you ridicule knowledge, wisdom and intelligence.
    seriously ?
    to each of their own of pathetic, i guess.
     
  8. krash661 [MK6] transitioning scifi to reality Valued Senior Member

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    it's not even philosophy, just a pathetic rant for ignorance while attempting to fulfil an emptiness.
     
  9. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    I used to think that. Then I started actually needing to know calculus, Boyle's Law, Bernoulli's Principle and Maxwell's Equations for my various jobs. And remarkably, it even has real life applications.

    Or you use that knowledge to get a far more interesting job, with more opportunities for travel, human interaction and leadership roles.

    The best way to escape the everyday tedium of a boring job is to have the skills and knowledge to get a better one.
     
  10. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    You use those equations in your daily life? How?
     
  11. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    I use Maxwell's Equations almost every day in my day job. I use Bernoulli's Principle when I teach people how to fly ram-air parachutes on the weekends. I use Boyle's Law when I am diving and building things underwater (hobby of mine.)
     
  12. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    You actually DO science then in your everyday life. Interesting..
     
  13. Yazata Valued Senior Member

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    5,902
    "Nobody else"? Isn't that an exaggeration? It seems to me that most interests become minority interests when they start to require work, when they get difficult. It's true of any subject.

    I don't think that anyone should be 'faulted'. Least of all you. There's nothing wrong with you, MR.

    That sounds like me back in the 1970's. I was a biological sciences major and was studying botany. They required us to buy copies of Jepson's Manual of California native plants. I loved that book and still have my old copy in a box in my basement somewhere. It was a 'flora', an exhaustive catalog of plants native to California, and it included a 'key', a guide to classifying plants in which a series of yes-no questions were asked - does this specimen have a particular characteristic? - If yes, go here, if no, go there. All of us were expected to get get very familiar with that book and very good at using it. Our laboratory final required that we identify some pretty tricky specimens.

    I found it very difficult to identify some of the characteristics upon which Jepson was basing its classifications. You really had to know what you were looking at. That's where the laboratory professor came in handy.

    You were just talking to the wrong people. My fellow botany students would have been very interested in your trees.

    The people at the Oregon Native Plant Society would be interested and supportive.

    http://www.npsoregon.org/

    They have a chapter in Portland. It's only $25/yr and you don't have to be a professional botanist to join.

    http://www.npsoregon.org/chapters/po.html

    I see from their website that Oregon State University is preparing to publish a 'Flora of Oregon' akin to my old Jepson. It's a major project that will include a plant identification key, an atlas of Oregon plants, cell-phone 'apps' and all kinds of cool stuff.

    http://www.oregonflora.org/

    Don't be down on yourself, MR. There's nothing wrong with you because you are smart. You just need to associate with the kind of people who can appreciate your unique qualities.

    Don't resent them. They just have different interests than you.

    I wonder how many smart kids are taught that kind of appalling self-loathing by their peers. One of the real failures of too many American public schools (not just American, I think it's common throughout the Western world) is the fact that all the special attention is directed at low-end kids who aren't keeping up. There's this widespread idea that smart kids don't need help, support or nurturing, that doing so would be 'elitist' because these kids already have all the 'advantages'. So the bright kids are left to fend for themselves, exposed to and sometimes psychologically damaged by a disfunctional and dangerously anti-intellectual youth peer-culture that makes kids feel inferior because their interests make them seem different. (Being different is the one inexcusable crime in high-school.) And then people wonder why our students don't perform well in STEM subjects.
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2015
  14. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    I'm too hard on myself. When I look in the mirror, I just see this innocent middle aged guy that seems pretty likeable and good natured. Growing old is all about accepting yourself. I even signed up for some local meetups on Meetup.com. Great place to find social groups based on lots of different interests..Hiking, film groups, therapy groups, LGBT groups. I'm branching out, like uh...whatever that tree is over there.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  15. krash661 [MK6] transitioning scifi to reality Valued Senior Member

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    underwater welder ?
     
  16. krash661 [MK6] transitioning scifi to reality Valued Senior Member

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    you do too, you just can't grasp that.
     
  17. krash661 [MK6] transitioning scifi to reality Valued Senior Member

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    so this thread IS about that emptiness you are trying to fill. yes, it was obvious.
    exactly what's referred to as mid life crisis.

    edit-
    How to Get Out of a Midlife Crisis

    http://www.webmd.com/men/features/mens-midlife-crisis
     
  18. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    21,635
    Underwater tents, actually. Built 4 of them so far. Hardest part is anchoring them to something strong enough to take the load. Old reefs are a pretty good place to find anchors, since they're pretty porous.
     
  19. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    You don't always "have" to know the principal behind what you're doing but when you do it's more interesting.

    Over the course of my life, just in hobbies, I've flown airplanes, a helicopter, diving, rock climbing, hiking and most of the principals mentioned elsewhere in this thread apply.

    Diving...gas laws, understanding atmospheric pressure, Bernoulli's relates to tank filling as well as flying. Light laws (inverse square), water density and its affect on light wave lengths (red washes out first).

    Flying...in addition to some of the above the is (in helicopters) coriolis effect, effective translation lift, ground effect, retreating blade stall, dissonant frequency, settling with power, torque, precession, density altitude...

    Hiking (climbing) and rock climbing...density altitude issues, medical issues related to altitude...

    I'm sure I've missed a lot of the principals involved but you get the point.
     
  20. Kaetemi Registered Member

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    2
    It's boring to people because schools primarily teach by step-by-step textbook, and require students to memorize, rather than letting students make mistakes and learn from them (and actually make them understand why they should research previous work in advance).

    They teach only what should happen when everything goes correctly according to theory. They don't tell or let explore what happens when you do things another way. And not following the steps is not allowed. Which is kind of boring.

    Boring documentaries tend to follow the same formula, which is what makes them boring.

    Failed experiments make for much more exciting and interesting material.

    As for why television channels don't produce serious science; it's simply cheaper to produce shows with dumb people, and it gets viewer numbers as well. Less expenses, more profit.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2015
    Jason.Marshall likes this.
  21. Jason.Marshall Banned Banned

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    There is a revolution going on can you feel it??

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    lol
     
  22. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

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    Despite all the bullshit about why or why do not people find science boring, in essence, they find it no more boring than teaching or learning maths...or English, or Geography or anything else.
    Of course the anti science brigade would like you to think that everyone thinks science is boring, but its nothing more than indifference.
    People are lazy...What doesn't concern them directly, they are not to worried about.
    I find TV shows based on "reality" as fucking stupid....others can't live without this daily dose of bullshit.....I find TV shows based on teaching me how to dance, or how to appreciate some mythical deity as boring.....I find TV shows exhibiting the finer points of gardening boring....
    But I am enthralled by the many good documentaries by such people as Neil De-Grasse Tyson, Brian Cox, Michio Kaku, Laurence Krauss.
    Our religious God Botherers would love to see science down graded for obvious reasons....Others see science below their own level of expertise due to inflated egos, and subsequently promote their own brand of pseudoscience.
    Despite those with an agenda working to see science demoted or demolished, deep down, and at least in my country, I would see people rallying to the cause of science in general, if the crunch came to the crunch.
    Science has given us much...Science benefits us everyday of our lives, and in all reality, I believe the average Joe Blow recognise that underlying fact.
     
  23. Jason.Marshall Banned Banned

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    654
    I agree with a lot of what you said here but not everything. Its true most people are too lazy to take responsibility for their own learning scientist as well as non scientist all the same and believe it are not they both subscribe to dogma. Just look at how they treated Einstein before he could prove his theory if you want a good example of what am talking about. I personally enjoy all activities of the mind all of science math and other I will consume every bit of knowledge I can gain access to almost obsessively. What is offered to the civillians for entertainment and mental stimulation is both pathetic and insulting but you know what it makes the jobs of the leaders of this planet much more easier if most of the inhabitants can be considered unconscious lacking awareness fighting amongst themselves while the parasite comes in swiftly to rob and steal with perfect ease. This planet is full of lies and ego worshippers basking in the comfort of illusions. Ask yourself what you have ...then ask yourself what will you loose maybe you believed you were safe you had control or maybe even freedom, ....Delusions?? hmmm...or is it all you have is illusions what if this was just a simulation constructed by a Boltzmann Brain well you will never know because these are just theoretical concepts constructed by the human ego and the ego has concluded that existing is as meaningless as existence itself arising from nothing "no meaning". This is what the ego believes but still a dogmatic belief none the less.
     

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