NanoraptorMar 10

I came across a functioning coder today asking if a kilogram was 1000 or 1024 grams.

Yes they did ask, yes they verified, yes they accepted 1000 grams.

I swear ten thousand years in the future some fucker will 'oops, black hole!' 'cos they began in comp sci and learned kilo = 1024 first and NOBODY WILL CATCH IT. Humanity will be WIPED OUT because YOU LOT KEPT THIS SHIT UP.

Show threadDavid P

@NanoRaptor

Is this someone who has no experience in science or engineering? As in outside of the very narrow world of computing?

Mar 10 at 10:31amWeb
Show threadChris LMar 10
@pewnack @NanoRaptor I am all for science and certainly no one can get thru their morning without the fruits of knowledge, but at this time it is difficult to claim that computing is more niche than a solid understanding of SI units (mich less dimensional analysis).
Show threadDavid PMar 10

@jayalane

Huh?

"I'm all for science"

You do know you wouldn't have computers or smartphones without centuries of science and scientists.

Anyhow, a fundamental knowledge of SI units is necessary for other fields (but clearly not for computing), such cooking, shopping, understanding your medication doses etc. Well at least it is in every country other than the archaic USA.

@NanoRaptor

Show threadChris LMar 10
@pewnack @NanoRaptor my point was small: pretty sure one can squeeze off 50 mls of medicine and not really understand SI units and yet that most city kids around the world will understand networks, delayed replication, the idea of eventual consistency, 1/2
Show threadChris LMar 10
@pewnack @NanoRaptor local caches, and the difference being streaming and local data at a pretty intuitive level, due to all the city people wanting phones. Agreed the US is less educated than it ought (which I see as a cause for lack of support for proper units). I see computer science as a tiny subset of proper science, but many of the weird effects of comp Sci are in daily display in a way that gravity waves or quantum superposition or island evolution patterns are not. I could be wrong. 2/2
Show threadDavid PMar 11

@jayalane

Sorry, I'm just not following.

Do you think science is somehow disconnected from the world we all inhabit?

Have you noticed how every year average global temperatures have broken records, and the IPCC has warned exactly this would keep happening?

Or, lithium batteries can be charged in a fraction of the time they could be just 5 years ago?

How about a research area from the 1990s (mRNA technology that was used to create multiple vaccines) was responsible for saving millions of lives during this COVID-19 pandemic?

Have you not been paying attention?

@NanoRaptor

Show threadChris LMar 11
@pewnack @NanoRaptor I agree with what you seem to believe; my small point was just I think people do not know as much about science as about computer technology. Science has less visibility than it ought to have. I live in a place where the miraculous mRNA technology is looking like not being used because people are too unaware of how wonderfully useful it is but phones are. And people spend more time worrying about the Car Play software than getting a low or no carbon transport option.
Show threadDavid PMar 11

@jayalane

I really think you overestimate how interested some people are in computers and computer technology.

One of my housemates and her sister refuse to learn how to use their smartphones. And the former doesn't understand the difference between Gmail and the internet.

@NanoRaptor

Show threadChris LMar 11
@pewnack @NanoRaptor sure. Could be the predominant culture now. Not where I travel but that's sure not a large sample. I am
Just thinking about explaining functional analysis "functions are really vectors" vs explaining the CAP theorem "if the network is down you don't know what happens on the other side" to non specialists. (Both of which I have done in the past few years). 1/2
Show threadChris LMar 11
@pewnack @NanoRaptor Even global warming, while it was a fair degree of currency in the info market, many people keep thinking it "might be too late" as if stopping it at 3 meters of ocean rise is not different than stopping it at 10 or 70 meters of rise. But everyone is aware that in a group chat messages can be seen in a different order. But it is hard for me to perceive the overall group for sure. 2/2
Show threadDavid PMar 11

@jayalane

I really have no idea what you are on about!?

What the hell does "fair degree of currency in the info market" mean?

Are you trying to say a lot of people have heard of global warming? If so, why not say that instead of saying some meaningless weasel words?

I think opinions on the futility or not of taking action on reducing emissions has little to do with the impact and importance of climate science.

Even those who think global warming is a scam cannot change the underlying science of our planet's climate.

And again, not everyone is aware how social media works, nor does everyone use social media, nor email for that matter. Don't you know anyone over the age of 80?

I'm not arguing everyone understands science, because many don't. However understanding some of the discoveries and outcomes of centuries of scientific endeavours is necessary and most people have this without realising it. My initial example, SI units. Any chef, or tradie would need to understand SI units (or at least a subset thereof) and yet they are not scientists.

In general, science encompasses so much. If you're into gardening, for instance, centuries of botany and plant hybridisation have given you many of the plants you would have. I mean there likely isn't an area of your life that hasn't benefited in some way from scientific advances.

If you like using aluminium, in your phone, in aircraft and all manner of things, when it was first isolated it was more expensive than gold. Thanks to engineers and chemists, it's now ubiquitous.

You seem to be arguing that everyone (or the "kids") has a deep intuitive understanding of computer networks, difference between streaming and local data.

Really?

@NanoRaptor

Show threadChris LMar 11
@pewnack @NanoRaptor sorry my writing here is clearly not up to task. I agree that science is essential to our modern lives. I, living in Sillicon Valley, may have a wrong impression of "people that use 1024" vs. "people that use 1000" due to the popularity and indeed profound changes from widely available networked programmable devices. 1/2
Show threadChris LMar 11
@pewnack @NanoRaptor I was not speaking about the substance of science vs the substance of comp Sci, but to the degree to which each has visibility to society at large, where what I see is that science knowledge is sadly niche and computer stuff very trendy. 2/2
Show threadDavid PMar 11

@jayalane

Well, I apologise for my misunderstanding and tone of voice directed at you use of the English language.

I'd suggest living in Silicon Valley, as far as I've been able to tell, very different from the rest of the world. Even my own experience in a relatively comfortable life in suburban Australia, is unlike what so many in the world. However I'm old enough to know that.

@NanoRaptor