this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2025
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xkcd #3144: Phase Changes

Title text:

People looking for the gaps in our understanding where the meaning of consciousness or free will might hide often turn to quantum uncertainty or infinite cosmologies, as if we don't have breathtakingly complex emergent phenomena right there in our freezers.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3144/

explainxkcd for #3144

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[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 29 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Fuck that, ice comes in over 25 different structural types or phases, the most recently discovered was this year. We still don't know jack shit about jack shit:

https://enl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_of_ice#Known_phases

[–] chuckleslord@lemmy.world 22 points 3 months ago (1 children)

We recently figured out why ice is slippery. Normies make it seem like all that's left to learn is at the fringes, but it's not. Our gaps in knowledge are everywhere. Even you can be an explorer!

[–] khornechips@sh.itjust.works 17 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

I assumed it was because of a thin water layer that makes you essentially hydroplane when you step on it, am I even close?

Edit: Yes, but also no.

[–] chuckleslord@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

More akin to marbles on a floor or a table shuffleboard setup!

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Great, who's going to go tell Richard Feynman?