Science Memes
Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
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- Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
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- Infographics welcome, get schooled.
If you are here asking: "Is this a science meme?"
Probably, yes. We use the Dawkins definition of meme: a replicating idea, not just an image macro with a fact on it. A good post here doesn't need to teach you something. It needs to make you ask something: who, what, where, when, and especially why or how.
Science isn't a filing cabinet of facts, it's a conversation. For example, a photo of an eel or other localized wildlife counts because most people never see one, and wonder is the first step of inquiry. A car meme counts if it makes you curious about what's under the bonnet. If you want to talk about something you noticed in the world, chances are someone else wants to talk about it too.
We moderate for vibe, not category. Pruning is light, especially where a post creates interesting discussion. Experimenting is encouraged.
See the pinned paper on Shitposting as Public Pedagogy if you want the academic case for why this works.
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Given it has a (good quality) color photo attached to it, it was definitely published when we already understood the theory of electricity really well, so it doesn't get a pass.
I'd argue that for fundamental forces, "what they are" and "what they do" is the same, by definition.
And in any case, mains supply in your home is not just electromagnetic waves vibing around, it's electrons engineered to move through wires in very specific ways, transferring power from a moving magnet or (increasingly) a photon falling on a semiconductor junction, to move another magnet, heat up some metal, or (increasingly) bounce around some electrons between some semiconductor junctions and then emit photons from other semiconductors junctions.
Finally, most of the text is bullshit even if you don't think we know what fundamental forces "are":
You can easily feel electric discharge. Just rub your hair on some wool.
Just be around a thunderstorm. Thunder is the sound of an electric discharge.
You can see where the energy that moved the electrons in your wires came from: https://app.electricitymaps.com/
It was written by a complete and utter buffoon, and it can't be redeemed with any amount of handwaving or philosophizing over what it means to "know" or what things "are". Either that or it's satire (which might well be the case).
It's even worse than that. Electric lighting predates the photo camera by several decades
Faraday's law and Lenz's law were discovered in the 1830s
The first arclamp is from the 1800-1810s. They weren't exactly selling them in stores by then, but they had been invented.
I'd argue we didn't fully understand the theory of electricity until we understood the atomic structures of metals and semiconductors, and that was properly developed in the early 20th century.
You could place "understanding" at many points in history, and several in the future:
Building an arclamp powered by a portable generator is damned impressive.
Sending a message via electromagnetic waves shows very impressive understanding of electricity too.
Having a small electromagnetic particle accelerator in your house to show moving pictures is pretty damned amazing.
Using electricity and basically sand to do maths is insanely impressive.
On the other hand, you might argue we don't understand electricity because we don't have a unified field theory.
I think it might be real:
I totally agree that the rest of it is nonsense, I was just commenting on the what it is/what it does bit