• wiccan2@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    The difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.

    – Adam Savage

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      3 days ago

      Mythbusters embodied the scientific method, but I do wish they’d stopped to actually properly explain it at some point. “Writing it down” is definitely part of the process, but it’s not the whole process. The whole process is what they actually did in most of their episodes:

      1. Make a prediction
      2. Design an experiment to test that prediction
      3. Run the experiment and observe the results
      4. Come up with a conclusion

      Sometimes they played fast and loose with some of these steps to make entertaining TV. But, fundamentally, they were doing science.

      • yeather@lemmy.ca
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        3 days ago

        Screwing around still covers parts 1-3 though. You say something stupid (hypothesis), your friend dares you to do it (experimentation planning), and you do it (experiment).

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          3 days ago

          You say something stupid (hypothesis), your friend dares you to do it

          What’s the hypothesis there?

          “I’m going to piss on that window.” doesn’t involve a testable hypothesis.

          • yeather@lemmy.ca
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            3 days ago

            I could totally chuck an egg on that roof!

            Nuh uh your arm is worse than mine!

            Chucks the egg

    • probably2high@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      [Stares shamefully at sparsely populated Obsidian vault, thinking about all bullshit I tinker with just long enough to set it up and forget how the next time I go back to it]