Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than for June 17, 2024
June 10, 2024
June 24, 2024
Transcript:
I know a place where the sun never shines. It’s at the bottom of the ocean. A crack in the crust there exudes chemicals and heats the water to boiling point. This would kill a human instantly. But there are creatures there, bacteria, that thrive. They eat the sulfur from the vent, and excrete sulfuric acid. I know a place where the temperature is fifteen million degrees, and the pressure would crush you to a microscopic dot. That place is the core of the sun. I know a place where the magnetic fields would rip you apart, atom by atom. I know a place where life began, billions of years ago. That place is here, the Earth. I know these places because I’m a scientist. Science is a way of finding things out. It’s what Richard Feynman called: Richard: A way of not fooling ourselves. No psychic, despite their claims, has ever helped the police solve a crime. But forensic scientists have, all the time. It wasn’t someone who practices homeopathy who found a cure for smallpox, or polio. Scientists did, medical scientists. No creationist ever cracked the genetic code. EVOLUTION: DEVIL. DARWIN. DAWKINS KIRK CAMERON Chemists did. Molecular biologists did. They used physics. They used math. They used chemistry, biology, astronomy, engineering. They used science. You can experience the thrill of discovery, the incredible, visceral feeling of doing something no one has ever done before, seen things no one has seen before. Know something no one else has ever known. No crystal balls, no tarot cards, no telescopes. Just you, your brain, and your ability to think. TELESCOPE GALAXY STAR 2000 Welcome to science. You’re gonna like it here. - Phil Plait
mr_sherman Premium Member 12 days ago
Can’t give enough “likes” to this one.
FreyjaRN Premium Member 12 days ago
He’s so right! I remember going out with grandpa to see Kohoutek. I’ve loved astronomy ever since. I even took it in high school.
A# 466 12 days ago
When your “Check Engine” light comes on the first repair step is to “hook it to the diagnostic computer.” Often enough, the result is along the lines of, “this problem could have 6 or 8 causes, we don’t know which one; it might even have totally different cause, or several causes.”
Sometimes the best diagnostic tool is the one between one’s ears; but it has also to be informed by education, experience, and UNDERSTANDING of that experience.
Vet Premium Member 12 days ago
Science. In all this world there is no “magic” place. It’s all science.
Bruce1253 12 days ago
I am an ex-engineer, and someone who has been paying close attention to the world for a very long time (I’m 70 and counting). During that time I have seen many things that can’t be explained by science. I have done a lot of reading from Plato to the Bhagavad Gita. I have come to think that there may not be anything that is impossible, it may be exceedingly rare, say 10,000 Sigma on a normal distribution, but not impossible. I also think based on repeated first hand experience, there is no such thing as a coincidence. I also see no fundamental probation for the existence of a god or gods. I will say however if YOUR god requires your fear, adoration, threatens hell fire and dalmatians ;-)) you are the children of a lesser god. True power requires nothing, it is complete as is.
Bill LaRocque Premium Member 12 days ago
Thank you for including Richard Feynman, not many artists do. Another wonderful piece.
Teto85 Premium Member 12 days ago
Love Phil. Great writer. Loved his Bad Astronomy column and his work on “How the Universe Works.” All of the astronomers and astrophysicists on that program have a way of explaining things in such a way as to make the subject matter interesting and understandable. They are the intellectual children of Carl Sagan and are carrying on most brilliantly.
Gail H Skinner 12 days ago
A great Truth explained succinctly.
Rich Douglas 12 days ago
I don’t know physics, but I know what matters.
Judeeye Premium Member 11 days ago
Great strip this week! Cheers to science.
forester6291 Premium Member 11 days ago
Thumbs up a million times for this episode.
RES 11 days ago
Thank God for the ability to do science! :-)
Tibby57721 7 days ago
I’ll hesitantly admit there’s a vibe in this that kind of makes me a tad uncomfortable. Science is great, but some enthusiasts go overboard and make it kind of sound like it’s everything or a creed in itself. I think it’s more what, I think, it’s meant to be: A way to explain the natural world through natural means. It’s not exactly a place you’re going to like being. It does not even promise a better world really. I mean you can just as easily say
No curses or fairies ever managed to decimate a city like Hiroshima or Nagasaki in an instant. But science did. The science of nuclear physics. No dark magic or goblin caused a hole in the Ozone layer. But science did, chemical engineering. The forced sterilization of indigenous people, South Asian men, and others wasn’t made possible by horoscopes or bells. It was made possible by scientific study of reproduction and the inspiration of scientist Paul Ehrlich also played a role.
But also it’s inherently demeaning to the accomplishments of pre-scientific cultures. Astronomy started not as a science as we know it, but more as a way to make calendars for reasons of farming and ritual. Universities did not start because science demanded it. They largely were founded for religious reasons. And though I’m definitely not a Creationist there have been creationists who helped to invent the MRI and various other machines because you don’t really need biological science to make machines or do math.