/sci/ - Science & Math

>>6450300
>Not just enjoying listening to NDT while he reminisces about based Sagan
1edgy3me

P.s.: you can't force the redpoll in one sitting

>>6450309
I do enjoy listening to him. That's why I didn't throw my keyboard through my screen when he had the gall to explain to me that the horizon wasn't actually an edge.

Afaik it's to inform and inspire non-science folks so that they may learn more on their own.

>>6450313
If you really don't know it's made for two reasons.
1: money from advertisers (duh)
2: educate and spark interest in older and youth generation to go into science fields ... Some for gubbermint but also genuine people like NDT even if he doesn't understand the workings of politics.

>>6450300
To create a new generation of fedora tippers

>>6450300
Because I enjoy further discussions of topics covered by the show and I'm fucking sick and tired of hearing about Walking Dead and reality bullshit.

>>6450364
*discussing
Fuck.

>>6450300

The point is to lie to children to bolster the ranks of scientists and engineers wasting their lives to develop a new ziplock bag or pizza topping.

They lie about the universe being grand, science being great, etc etc. It's all just cherrypicking. You think they're going to do an episode on war, the cause of and actual source of scientific progress? Fuck no, their ideology won't allow it.

At its best, it's just another piece of shit to rerun on natgeo wild, and at worst, it's selling science fiction as fact. See image.

>>6450300
this is the most disgusting attention whoring pointless thread i've ever read.
>why do millions of people enjoy the stuff I learned in high school
>is this evidence that I am better than everyone?

maybe you should let your inner monologue answer these questions and start being more optimistic.

>>6450372
>start being more optimistic.

>stick your head in the dirt and breathe lies

Go pray to a deity.

>>6450375
try again.

>>6450377

Optimism is the drug of the ignorant?

>>6450378
that doesn't hold up literally or figuratively.

you get 1 more try.

>>6450381

Yeah, i stopped caring.

>>6450383
>optimism is the drug of the ignorant
Optimism is thinking of the positive possibilities of an idea, skepticism is when you scan the idea for untruths or agenda.

high school science will always blow my mind because I am always thinking of the positive possibilities instead of depressing myself by pessimistic thoughts like -
>they needed a whole episode to explain evolution to stupid americans?
>Tyson's spaceship makes noise in space. Sagan just rolled over in his grave

>>6450398

So you think "The singularity will save us all!" instead of "We need to harshly reduce the amount of energy individuals have access to so we can live on solar power or we're all going to die when the oil runs out."

Good ol optimism, keeps you from ever having to lift a finger. Everything will just fix itself.

>>6450300
>the growing unscientific community

This is what elitist geek wads want you to believe.

>>6450300
Lots of schools in the US have extremely shitty science classes. Hell, some teachers just don't teach evolution.

It's for Americans

>>6450309
>>6450313

bro you got REKT
just kill yourself now

>>6450367
You sound like a real winner to be around.

>>6450415
>puts words in my mouth
>links optimism with laziness

there are other countless factors that go into your stupid statements that you think I think.

Did you take a lot of acid and get stuck in a trip where you think the world is going to shit every tomorrow?

>Did I just get a particularly good high school education?

If you are a regular on /sci/, there is a damn good chance that you're well educated.

Not to say people here are logical, but most here are clearly well educated.

>>6450300
>What is the point of such an advertised, high budget documentary series if it's just going to teach high school science?

Call it a gateway drug, if you will. Its purpose is not to be an all-inclusive scientific education, but to grab people's attention and get them thinking, particularly those who DON'T usually think about science. /sci/ is, ironically, NOT the audience for shows like this - you're already interested and know much of what will be talked about, likely in far greater detail than a television documentary can ever hope to go into.

>>6450309
>enjoying a nigger presenting facts like he discovered them himself
>enjoying music that isnt by Vangelis


nigga YOU gay

>>6450300
Cosmos, both the old and the new, has never taken a terribly in-depth approach to covering physics and astronomy. It's not meant to.

Cosmos is meant to be an introduction to these topics, to get people talking about astronomy, physics, the history of science and observation. It introduces people to ideas and ways of thinking and encourages them to learn more on their own.

Accessibility is key when it comes to any outreach activity, whether it's a public telescope observing program or a multi-million dollar television program. You want to reach the widest audience possible and you don't want to drive them away with a lot of dry talk on mathematics and theory.


As >>6450885 put it - Cosmos is a 'gateway drug' to science. The show isn't aimed at undergraduate and graduate science students, we're already interested and invested in the sciences. It's audience is the general public, a general public that

because people will watch it and other people will get money out of it. if you're so smart why can't your figure this one out?

Because they need to catch up all the common folk.

>>6450300
I assume they took survey on what the average person knows about space science; they built the show off it.

What the fuck got you interested in science at a young age if not documentaries like this?

>>6450367
>war is the driver of technology
Bullshit. Anything with a significant R&D budget will progress technology. Building a giant stature of the Gold Girls cast at the bottom of the sea would progress technology as far if not further than an equally funded weapons development program.

>>6452728
Science.

>>6452734
You didn't do science when you were nine. You are a liar.

>>6452737

I knew of science as far back as I can remember. I got my first chemistry set when I was 9.

>>6450300
Why's this so hard to answer?

The average public doesn't know much about science outside of high-school stuff.

>>6452743
Why did someone give you the chemistry set?

>>6452743
Something inspired you as a kid. You just can't remember what it was. Cosmos inspires kids. Why don't you want to inspire children to enter STEM fields?

>>6452755
>something...
An encyclopedia.

>>6452754
Same reason you give a kid religion, except my parents knew what they were doing.

>>6450300
Cosmos is made to inspire children to learn about science, and a large portion of it is also devoted to helping religious people understand science without making them feel too cognitively dissonant.

Episode one of the new series makes that pretty obvious.

It's a show about inspiration and optimism. I think it's a very, very good thing to exist. The original series probably played a huge role in my life.

I live for the arts and sciences.

>>6452816
>Cosmos is made to inspire children to learn about science

Then they should show it BEFORE bedtime.

why would anybody make any science documentary in 2014? so many have been made and remade since the first cosmos and they all end up on youtube instantly. i am pretty sure cosmos as nothing new to tell me.

>>6452857
lolwut... Check through the wormhole ,it's scientific documentary where every episode is done with different professors of the field. With quality. Thats why to make documentaries, quality.

>>6450367
>You think they're going to do an episode on war, the cause of and actual source of scientific progress? Fuck no, their ideology won't allow it.

Oh god... that's adorable. Is this your first bait?

>>6451264
People should think like this before they make threads

for all of you spouting the "for the childrensOMG"....then why the fuck is it on so late at night on a school night????

i was in bed by 8 or 8:30 on school nights until i hit middle school. you want to get young kids, this should be on friday nights at 8 or something, or at least earlier on sundays.

>>6452783
*tips fedora*

>>6452883

So we learned how to build walls and thus engineering for what noble purpose? Keeping out tigers?

>>>/tv/

>>6454088
>walls are only used for war

>>6452733

Because thats how economics works?

>>6454102

Yeah, actually. Back then at least. Walls around cities, btw. You know, the big kind that you need principles of engineering for.

>>6454102

>this wall keeps the bears out.

>only bears

>because war is for poopy heads.

>>6451264
Every time I see a Comsos thread, whether it's on /sci/, /tv/, or /pol/, I'm left with the impression that the overwhelming majority of people bitching about how the new series never watched the original.

>>6450300
it's to inspire people with limited knowledge to learn about these things
i'm gonna watch the first now

but how the heck do i do this captcha?

>>6454088
To start, im not him. Anyway, walls only advanced engineering. Saying war is "THE" "REAL" driver of scientific progress is utterly moronic. It is one, and a very notable and important one, but if we use the example of engineering, so is regular old architecture. So is the necessity for irrigation systems and canals. Or projects to drain swamps.
Saying war is "the real" driver of scientific advancement, and statements like it, is the province of idiots, grossly oversimplifying things because they want to feel like they know something profound.

>>6452783
i like this answer

Does /sci/ know of any good documentaries that actually go into substantial depth on their topic? That will actually teach you something even if you're semi-educated?

>>6454263

Documentaries are made for quacks or lamens.

If you want to learn something, read a fucking paper.

>>6454266
Well I -am- a layman, prick.
But most of the stuff I see in alot of documentaries I already knew, or the whole thing was woefully sparse, leaving me wishing itd presented more.

>>6454279

Unfortunately there aren't many actual science documentaries, mostly conspiracy shit and stuff like Cosmos where it's really general or edited to hell and back.

I was serious, there comes a point where learning more becomes study and not an hour on youtube.

Most people who don't go into a science career forget most of what they learned in HS.

>>6454297
>I was serious, there comes a point where learning more becomes study and not an hour on youtube.
Well.
Son of a bitch.

>>6450300
The original Cosmos was on about the same level too. It's a science documentary aimed at the average person. They can't go into much detail or assume the audience knows anything about the material. And really, most science documentaries are just excuses to show cool nature stuff.

>>6454263
There aren't many, sadly. Documentaries are aimed at a general audience and are usually heavily watered down science as a result.

That said, if you're into neuroscience I'd highly recommend "The Frozen Addicts". It's one of those very rare documentaries that actually goes into reasonable depth about its material and explains things pretty accurately. Just about every neuroscientist I've talked to knows about it, although maybe my perspective is a little biased seeing as how most of my research is in the neuroscience of drug abuse and addiction.

>>6454363
Well, thank you anon. Ill likely look for it.

>>6450786
>If you are a regular on /sci/, there is a damn good chance that you're well educated

>>6452783

>>6454669
>mfw regardless of how good the rest of the series is, this is the only thing the internet will ever remember from this series.
God I fucking hate the internet sometimes.

It is a show for everybody. You probably know a lot about science, but most people do not. Hence, a popular-science show. It is a show that can be watched by people who know nothing of science. Do not get your jimmies in a rustle.

-It's a show on Fox on Sunday
-It's aimed at the general, uninformed audience across the globe
-It is aimed at the casual observer, not the science nerd
-The intent is to middle school level science Sesame Street.
-NDT has made repeated public statements about his desire to ignite the spark of interest in young children
-Episode 4 made direct references to how Sagan and the previous Cosmos sparked his interest as a young child
-Everything in the show is discussed slowly so that people can remember the key terms long enough to google any topic they found interesting with their smart phone
-Children watching the show will latch onto a topic, read up on it, and become future science nerds
-Adults that were never educated can do the same. There are many, many adults that do not understand the simplest of scientific facts.

-It is a soft, calming, engaging show giving the basic fundamentals of science sprinkled with 10 second deadpans that the most basic understand of science discredits the world's religions.
-Again, it is on at primetime Sunday night on Fox, and apparently multiple other channels and languages

this show ultimately fails at its own goals.

it isn't interesting, exciting or inspiring at all to young people.

its fucking boring and condescending.

>>6452875
>through the wormhole
>decided to check it
>so many episode just reek of anti-theism from the title

Should I just skip those?

>>6450300

because high school science is the highest bar your average knuckle dragging Amerifat can possibly process. Be glad it's at least high school level. For an average amerifag to grasp anything it needs to be related on at least a 5th grade level with a pack of cigarettes thrown in for good measure as an incentive to learn.

>>6454968
Hes dressed in a scarf and an overcoat.
His skin is in good condition and hes not fat.
There is literally nothing wrong with the choice of hat in that picture.

>>6455366
I've watched a good number of TTW episodes and never got a hint of anything that could be considered antitheistic. Maybe I was too into the show when I would watch them.

>>6455613

I've seen just the titles, so it may be that the content doesn't have anything to do with that.

>>6455792
It's definitely a good show for anyone interested in the smaller details of astrophysics. Like a more in-depth version of Cosmos. Except they tend to go over more complex topics.

That show seems to be like somebody eating a ham sandwich on Saudi TV. Yup, I got it now that it goes against American state ideology to say the universe is older than 6000 years and that Cosmos must thus be totally edgy, but at the end of the day I wouldn't waste 45 x 13 minutes of my life watching somebody eating ham sandwiches on Saudi TV. Or this show.

>>6456113
Ok.

>>6450300
>>6450300
A. American education is abysmal. Saying things like "Cosmos goes over some middle school topics" makes me giggle, because I didn't get to learn a ton of this stuff. I had to wait until I found a teacher in highschool who could recommend good books and actually cared about science. So we get it "hurr durr amerifats r dumb". So original.

B. Because kids get such shit science education, they don't care about it. Friends my age (25) think new science discoveries are a waste of their tax dollars (lol) and we should be spending our budget on something else. Regardless, they don't think it effects them. A lot of people just don't care about science.

C. Neil is trying to reach out to these people. To show them science doesn't have to be so dry. That reality can actually be quite incredible if you learn more about it, and yet still make sense.

We need more scientists. How do we get more? You make a high-budget documentary series that makes science look fucking nuts, and gets people interested again.

Each topic about this show on /sci/ starts with a "lol i learnt this in elementary school, why does it even exist?"

If you were smart enough, you'd know it's pretty damn obvious.

>>6455005
>-Everything in the show is discussed slowly.

This, they even explain the same thing twice if they feel it is needed, if you don't get that they're trying to get the ideas across illiterate people, then it isn't the show problem but yours.

Just be patient and try to enjoy the ride or look for something more advanced and detailed.

>>6456265

>A. American education is abysmal. Saying things like "Cosmos goes over some middle school topics" makes me giggle, because I didn't get to learn a ton of this stuff.

sounds like you went to a shit school bro

>>6457065
Uh, yeah, thats kind of the point of him saying "american education is shit."

>>6457078

I have an american education and my high school had an extremely good science department

the advanced placement biology,chemistry and physics classes all covered what people would consider 100 level classes in a university