• turmacar@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Faraday never told the prime minister asking what use his electrical party tricks had with, “I don’t know but someday you will tax it.” But it’s fairly un-intuitive that some weirdos arguing about Newton’s gravity equations not working in very specific circumstances would lead to precision worldwide location / mapping / guidance technology (Special relativity / GPS). Or that the abstract work in what atoms are and how they work would lead to incredibly dense handheld digital storage devices (quantum mechanics / SSDs). Seeing what organs could be removed from a living dog lead to the development of insulin.

      Limiting research to what will pay off in ~5-10 years is like only taking day-trips and wondering why you never discover new continents.

      • DrunkEngineer@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Oh come on. “Studying” 5G and anti-vax conspiracy theories is hardly in same league as the stuff Faraday was researching.

        • turmacar@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I mean at this point I’m not 100% sure I’m not talking with a bot that just responds to my first sentence.

          5G / anti-vax / etc. aren’t research movements, they’re justifications. Conspiracy “science” is not science, it’s (fairly fringe) religion attempting to use alternate language to appear more respectable.

          Stuff like the Netflix / Folding Ideas documentaries on Flat Earthers are still interesting for showing the application of ideas and how critical thinking is useful and how rejecting proof because it doesn’t fit your hypothesis, instead of adjusting your hypothesis, is farcical when viewed outside the lens of belief.