Scientific and mathematical inaccuracies, misconceptions and errors that get under your skin

[Azuaron]

It's really annoying to hear people say that it's impossible to divide by zero.
It's entirely possible, it just opens up rifts in the space-time--similar to black holes. Some astronomers and scientists hypothesize that many of the universes black holes are the result of alien civilizations mass acceptance of the possibility of division by zero.

Not sure if you're being facetious, but I have it on the good authority (I understand that from your point of view I could be making it up, but I promise I'm not) of a 1st class maths graduate, that dividing by zero is indeed impossible.

Eh, it's quite easy, actually.

x / 0 = infinity.

DONE.

 

[Maxy]

Injecting stem cells into damaged tissue will fix it.
Just because a particular cluster of cells can become ANYTHING in the body, doesnt meant it will differentiate into what you want it too...

Stem cell tourism has becoming more prolific these days though =/
http://stemcellschina.com/?gclid=CPLfjo3XsrICFcQbpQodNUgAKg

 

[Azuaron]

The idea that a scientific theory is just some stuff that some guy decided was fact.

Also this.

'That would be like scientists thinking that the theory of gravity is wrong because one guy can levitate.'

I think...if one guy could levitate....then yes scientists would either be taking a very hard look at either; that one guys biology or the theory of gravity...you fucking fool.

In an experimental psych class I was in, the professor was talking about stupid statistics stories he'd heard, and apparently someone wanted to know what statistical test you would perform to determine if a specific disease was extinct in a region.

Like, he'd collected data from the region, and there were three cases of that disease in that region, and he wanted to "prove" that those three cases were statistically insignificant and, therefore, the disease was extinct.

MATH.

 

[Dusty Donuts]

1 + 1 = a window.
That one gets under my skin SO MUCH I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN IT OH MY GOD IT'S SO--

 

[Yopaz]

Almost anything about evolution. I actually had someone say natural selection had nothing to do with evolution and that evolution was just random mutation saying that a single organism's mutation was evolution. That seriously pissed me off.

CSI and chemical analysis. I know this is intended to be entertainment and that the majority of the viewers don't have a background to understand how these things work, but still...

1) The strong anthropic principle.
<quote=Douglas Adams>Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, "This is an interesting world I find myself in - an interesting hole I find myself in - fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!" (...)

2) The notion that the second law of thermodynamics somehow conflicts with evolution. It only shows that the person stating said argument is misinterpreting both thermodynamics and evolution. They are also unable to define order and entropy properly. I usually point out what happens when you try to mix oil and water and then ask them how the seemingly perceived increase in order is even possible according to their simplistic definitions.

3) People confusing abiogenesis with evolution.

OK, what the fuck? Thermodynamics and evolution? Where the fuck do you find someone who manage to mix those two? I hope that was a troll.

 

[Brotha Desmond]

Scientists are split on global warming so it means it doesn't exist.
Bull-fucking-shit. It only matters what climate scientists think, and there is a consensus among them that global warming is indeed real. Although there s away to fix this. Send all the global warming doubters to the artic ice caps and if they are still alive in five years they win.

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

It's really annoying to hear people say that it's impossible to divide by zero.
It's entirely possible, it just opens up rifts in the space-time--similar to black holes. Some astronomers and scientists hypothesize that many of the universes black holes are the result of alien civilizations mass acceptance of the possibility of division by zero.

Not sure if you're being facetious, but I have it on the good authority (I understand that from your point of view I could be making it up, but I promise I'm not) of a 1st class maths graduate, that dividing by zero is indeed impossible.

Eh, it's quite easy, actually.

x / 0 = infinity.

DONE.

I to, used to think this, before it was violently beat out of me by said mathematician.

Also, you can prove it by contradiction.

x =/= 0

x/0= infinity

x=0*infinity

x=0

Furthermore, if you allow division by zero, there are several ways of proving that 1=2=3= any number. So it just isn't mathematically possible.

 

[Boba Frag]

11) "Ancient" or natural cures for anything (especially herbal supplements). Yeah, sometimes people stumbled upon stuff. That's how we discovered aspirin. However, our ancestors also drank Mercury and shit on the walls of their buildings.

An entire thread devoted to inaccuracies, broad, sweeping generalisations, myths, misconceptions and general ignorance....

And you post that.

Cue me disregarding an otherwise decent argument.

Drinking Mercury generally precludes people from having descendants, as does poor personal hygiene.

 

[Simonoly]

as a microbiologist the thing that realy REALY shits me is the anti-vaccination movement. i can not think of a single group of people doing more to drag humanity back into the dark ages. i just want to cry every time i hear of someone dying of whooping cough or diptheria because they thought the vaccine would give them autism. that claim alone drives me nuts. it was in 1 paper, which has been retracted cause of shit science, 9 of the 11 authors have distanced themselves from the conclusions of the paper, and the lead author, and the papers only defender has now lost his medical licence, there is no way that can be more disproved, but no its all "I wont protect my child, and by proxy the community from this easaly preventable disease because it will give my child down syndrome. i know this cause a woman who could tell you what a fucking T-cell is said so" sigh, so much lost hope for humanity.

otherwise, as said above, arguments agaist evolution, "you cant prove evolution" I can think of at least 3 simple experiments to prove evolution happening in a clear and disticnt fashon, but even if i showed them, they would sill argue against it.

I wish I could go back in time and assassinate Andrew Wakefield. That man ruined everything.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

snip

That makes me a sad panda. D:

I'm no maths genius (bwahaha that's an understatement.) but even I can see the difference between something being extinct and it being present in 3 cases.

 

[Azuaron]

It's really annoying to hear people say that it's impossible to divide by zero.
It's entirely possible, it just opens up rifts in the space-time--similar to black holes. Some astronomers and scientists hypothesize that many of the universes black holes are the result of alien civilizations mass acceptance of the possibility of division by zero.

Not sure if you're being facetious, but I have it on the good authority (I understand that from your point of view I could be making it up, but I promise I'm not) of a 1st class maths graduate, that dividing by zero is indeed impossible.

Eh, it's quite easy, actually.

x / 0 = infinity.

DONE.

I to, used to think this, before it was violently beat out of me by said mathematician.

Also, they you can prove it by contradiction.

x =/= 0

x/0= infinity

x=0*infinity

x=0

Furthermore, if you allow division by zero, there are several ways of proving that 1=2=3= any number. So it just isn't mathematically possible.

 

[Azuaron]

snip

That makes me a sad panda. D:

I'm no maths genius (bwahaha that's an understatement.) but even I can see the difference between something being extinct and it being present in 3 cases.

I'm reminded of... possibly Hitchhiker's Guide... where they talk about, since the universe is infinite, the average population of the universe (which is a finite number) is zero, and there is, therefore, no life in the universe.

 

[Vivi22]

OK, what the fuck? Thermodynamics and evolution? Where the fuck do you find someone who manage to mix those two? I hope that was a troll.

It's an argument thrown about by a lot of creationsits and the like. They basically think evolution defies the laws of thermodynamics because it represents an increase in order within a system when entropy should make that impossible.

They completely miss the fact that the Earth isn't a closed system and entropy can therefore decrease temporarily thanks to the energy we receive from the sun on a daily basis.

 

[YuberNeclord]

"Human beings only use 10% of their brains."

This one really bugs the crap out of me. I usually hear it said by 'experts' on late night tv who are trying to sell books to expand our memory or unlock our psychic potential or some such rubbish.

Human beings don't only use 10% of our brains, we only use 10% of our brains at any one time. The parts of our brains that are active while we are for instance, reading a book, are inactive or less active when we are listening to someone talk, singing a song, playing jump rope, etc.

 

[Bloodstain]

People who think that evolution means that a species just magically transforms into something better. Those are also the people who think that humans, due to 'evolution', will look very differently in a few hundred years.
No.

You know how evolution works? Those who cannot survive in a new environment die off, whereas those who can survive keep on living. That's evolution.
And since we are pretty good at adapting and surviving, we won't change.

 

[Lukeje]

I to, used to think this, before it was violently beat out of me by said mathematician.

Also, you can prove it by contradiction.

x =/= 0

x/0= infinity

x=0*infinity

x=0

Furthermore, if you allow division by zero, there are several ways of proving that 1=2=3= any number. So it just isn't mathematically possible.

You skipped over a very important step.
Assume x=/=0.

Define x/0 = infty.

Multiply both sides by zero.

0 x/0 = 0 infty, i.e. 0/0 = 0 infty.

You have made the implicit assumption that 0/0 = 1.
If we leave 0/0 undefined then we avoid the contradiction x = 0.
The set of complex numbers including infinity (of which the set of real numbers including the point at infinity is a subset) is the Riemann sphere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_sphere

 

[Yopaz]

OK, what the fuck? Thermodynamics and evolution? Where the fuck do you find someone who manage to mix those two? I hope that was a troll.

It's an argument thrown about by a lot of creationsits and the like. They basically think evolution defies the laws of thermodynamics because it represents an increase in order within a system when entropy should make that impossible.

They completely miss the fact that the Earth isn't a closed system and entropy can therefore decrease temporarily thanks to the energy we receive from the sun on a daily basis.

I guess I can get aboard with that thought. However I could make arguments against this without bringing up the fact that biology and physics are two different things. Evolution is not an increase in order, it is a decrease in order. Several species originating from single celled organisms and branching out into a massive diversity.

Also those things you said about the fact that we're not in a closed system. at times I am not sure if Creationists are entertaining or just plain frustrating. They sure come up with a lot of awesome reasoning proving they don't have any scientific standpoint when they debate our origin.

 

[Vivi22]

I guess I can get aboard with that thought. However I could make arguments against this without bringing up the fact that biology and physics are two different things. Evolution is not an increase in order, it is a decrease in order. Several species originating from single celled organisms and branching out into a massive diversity.

Also those things you said about the fact that we're not in a closed system. at times I am not sure if Creationists are entertaining or just plain frustrating. They sure come up with a lot of awesome reasoning proving they don't have any scientific standpoint when they debate our origin.

It is truly mind boggling the things they come up with. You kind of have to laugh to stay sane when even their attempts to misapply science rely on further misrepresentations and misunderstandings.

 

[Yopaz]

It is truly mind boggling the things they come up with. You kind of have to laugh to stay sane when even their attempts to misapply science rely on further misrepresentations and misunderstandings.

I couldn't agree more. Trying to point out logic flaws or misunderstandings wont lead anywhere. Laugh and move on is the only way to deal with it.