Dr. Angela Collier plays the Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and talks at length about what went wrong with string theory, and how that affected science communication.
I didn’t watch this video but I suspect the sentiment is similar to Sabine’s (I highly recommend her channel)
I love Sabines channel. Fantastic communicator of advanced ideas and you wouldn’t necessarily expect it from the tone of her voice while she talks but her humor is top notch too
Then I regret to inform you that Sabine has some not so great views on trans issues
deleted by creator
She seems to know more about both physics and Binding of Isaac than I do.
@interolivary she’s cool.
Thanks for this, liked and subscribed immediately!
That was very interesting viewpoint and as a representative of the"Public" - some of the finer intricacies of academia have escaped me, but I largely agree with what she’s saying.
Angela is great! Love her passion and how she phrases things.
Sure the videos could usually be half as long without losing much in the way of her argument but I enjoy her personality so I don’t mind.“Science communication is hard so I’m going to play a game while explaining science, cuz that’s not distracting at all.”
It just wasn’t for me and I lost interest after a few minutes
I always had doubts about scientific theories on atomic particles and space but they were theory for a reason. Theory is what the word means, it is based on many assumptions. Like the big bang is a theory, It leads scientist to explore it from multiple angles through validation and verification (because science is hard). They are never put out as a fact. So I don’t even know what point she’s trying to make.
Theory in science generally means something much more stringent than it does in vernacular. From Wikipedia:
A scientific theory is an explanation of an aspect of the natural world and universe that can be (or a fortiori, that has been) repeatedly tested and corroborated in accordance with the scientific method, using accepted protocols of observation, measurement, and evaluation of results. Where possible, theories are tested under controlled conditions in an experiment.[1][2] In circumstances not amenable to experimental testing, theories are evaluated through principles of abductive reasoning. Established scientific theories have withstood rigorous scrutiny and embody scientific knowledge.
A scientific theory differs from a scientific fact or scientific law in that a theory explains “why” or “how”: a fact is a simple, basic observation, whereas a law is a statement (often a mathematical equation) about a relationship between facts and/or other laws.
So when something is being put forward as “A Scientific Theory” it is meant to be taken as the best possible explanation we can make of why the universe is the way it is, backed by exhaustive tests using the best methods currently available to us.
In science, when something is just a theory in the way you mean, it’s called a hypothesis.
In grad school I audited a few classes of “The Physics of Evolution,” and there was one quote from the professor that stuck with me. It was, loosely, “Some people claim evolution is ‘only a theory,’ but they have it backwards — evolution is a fact, but it’s a lousy theory!”
Like gravity is a theory. Or germs are a theory.
@On @interolivary the point she was making was that her job is harder because some people are actively dishonest and that creates distrust towards her entire profession, not just the individuals.
Big focus on the how it happened for this case of string theory.
I don’t normal watch YouTube (especially for this long) and I especially don’t watch people play games, but… Ive been wondering why I don’t hear about String Theory any more… and I’ve owned Binding of Isaac and have yet to play it. So I thought, why not!?
I was actually surprised by how interesting I found this. Dr Collier communicated some things I’ve been curious about while also teaching me several new things. The game added a fun element, but I’m afraid it’s probably going to remain dormant on Steam for a long while longer now. 😁
Anyway, thanks for the share.
Really? Lied to you?
Im about 20 mins in. Seems interesting and knowledgeable but why the game? Is it a quirk of her or do ppl like to watch it? Is this what twitch did?
She made a comment about it early on. I think it’s to distract her a little so she doesn’t just spend the next hour talking in detail about maths.
Is this the difficulty in communication she’s referring to? That she has to play video games when discussing scientific topics like she’s Sam Bankman-Fried?
Yeah. I’ve seen her do other videos and she doesn’t play a game. I think it might just have been a way to keep the tone conversational. Near the end, as she got the complex stuff, the game got harder and her presentation suffered a little. I’m hoping she doesn’t stick with this format: not my favority.
That’s what writing a script ahead of time is for.
Leave it to a physicist to think they need to resolve every problem.
I’m not sure what you mean, is string theory not part of physics? But yeah she said she has a list of things to go through, more dot points than a script. Her normal videos are typically scripted though.
One of my favourite videos I’ve watched recently. The sheer skill to beat Binding of Issac and explain an entire lecture’s worth of info about science communication is great.
I watched her video about silicon-based life recently and thought it was very well explained and super interesting. She’s a good communicator.
Found my new favorite science communicator, she did such an awesome job here! I’ll have to check out the rest of her videos because she seems to cover a lot of different science topics.
I’ve been watching a lot of her videos lately! I found the one on Gell-Mann amnesia to be really interesting and linked it here the other day; maybe a good one for a next watch if you haven’t picked yet.
Fun fact, Michael Crichton (that one) coined that, Gell-Mann amnesia after Murray Gell-Mann, who had nothing to do with it.
Less fun fact, Micheal Crichton was an active climate change denialist.
In one public debate his team argued so convincingly that the audience went from 57% believing climate change was a global crisis down to 46% after the debate.
deleted by creator
Given the climate (pun) of politics at the time he was alive and playing that role, and given that hindsight has taught us An Inconvenient Truth was more political than it was based in science, and given that Crichton’s argument was that environmentalism had to be apolitical in order to ever be effective … yeah I’m not a climate change denier but neither was Crichton.
Crichton was a Democrat. And he was right, Al Gore’s movie was about fear-driven politics, not actionable goals and plans.
Go look at how climate scientists described that movie. “The basic truth and it’s inconvenience remains” one researcher was quoted saying. Tacitly admitting everything beyond the basic truth of the film was inaccurate. Go on, check out what retrospectives have to say about it. There’s a lot of em.
Again, Crichton was right, and he was absolutely not in denial of climate change. He was against using social problems with scientific solutions as political ammunition in the fear cannons.
Bottom line is any time someone insists a complex problem has a solution as simple and clear cut as “vote Democrat”, they’re wrong. More wrong than they are right, especially given any timeline longer than 4 years. And that’s exactly what you’re doing here. “Crichton deviated from the party line on the environment ergo he’s just a ‘denier’”. There’s far more nuance in this life than that.
The approach to climate change cannot ever be apolitical. Once you see the facts, it’s very fucking clear what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what must be done to stop it, and simply “vote democrat” has never been the answer.
Further, nothing is ever apolitical, cannot be, and should not bel. Your politics, biases, and overall worldview affect everything you do. It’s easy to say you’re “apolitical” when your views align with the status quo. But status quo does not mean neutrality.
There are no solutions to climate change that are contingent on a particular party being in power in a single nation when the problem isn’t confined to a single nation. Making the environment about Democrats over Republicans is wildly dangerous because it breeds contentment: people think they did their part in electing the “right” person and stop giving a damn. Politics isn’t going to offer a solution to climate change, but they’ll certainly tell you they’ve got em.
Tell me you’re okay with being lied to in order to be made afraid, tell me you’re okay with science being misrepresented for political brownie points, and I’ll tell you you’re no better than a grubby politician yourself, because that’s all that standpoint serves. Political brownie points. It’s “ends justify the means” logic. “Its fine to fear monger and lie and misrepresent facts as long as you’re doing so on support of the right ideology” is wildly stupid and dangerous reasoning.
Who is lying and fearmongering? The only ones lying or misrepresenting data are people who deny that climate change is happening or that it’s as severe as it is.
And while I have no faith in Democrats in the US to do anything meaningful, because they haven’t, it’s undeniable that when Republicans are in power, things get significantly worse. In the US we have one party that has no spine or will to do anything, and another that is not only actively denying climate change, but seeks to continue actions that accelerate it, all while gutting regulatory bodies and dismantling previous efforts.
However
-
If you think scientists and activists are lying and misrepresenting the data, then you haven’t actually looked at the data. I’m not going to debate the realities of climate change with you or anyone else. The data is incontrovertible. There aren’t two sides here, and debate only gives credence to people who try to claim it isn’t happening.
-
The core of the issue is human greed. And that greed is given free reign under capitalism. Capitalism is the problem, and it’s end is the only way forward. That is a political issue and, short of people forming militias and destroying fossil fuel companies, is going to have to be dealt with in a political arena.
-
Notice that never once have I said “vote Democrat” or “I endorse fearmongering to get people to vote Democrat”
-
Politics isn’t going to offer a solution to climate change, but they’ll certainly tell you they’ve got em.
I would argue that only politics is going to offer a real solution here. Individual actions can help, but climate change is a huge problem that will take coordination on a massive scale to deal with. Politics is how we do that. “Politics” means much more than just which box you tick come election season.
yeah I’m not a climate change denier but neither was Crichton.
That dirty motherfucker wrote a whole-ass book denying climate change.
Definitely, thanks for the suggestion! 😄
Her video on the most important material in science (spoiler: it’s glass) is my favourite video of hers so far. Another one is on robots doesn’t need to be in human form.
I’ve seen this one and the Michio Kaku one, and they were both great.
Same. I really like the way she presents ideas.
I know fuck all about physics but that was interesting! She was great
I didn’t lie! Slander! Slander, I tell ya!
