Mythbusters

[asterroc]

Oh man, this comic says it so well. :)



They're not science, and yet they are! And Zombie Feynman!

Comments

[kadath.livejournal.com]

I swear I am the only geek in the world who is totally over Mythbusters.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I am too. Every time someone makes me watch it, their lack of real scientific rigor drives me nuts - and that's half my point. My other half a point is that I'm glad it's there for others, and their "oh yeah? prove it!" attitude is one that our society sorely needs.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

There's "lack of rigor" and then there's "getting the formula for the area of a circle wrong" which I saw them do once.

Also, every aerospace myth they've ever done I can bust/prove with about 30 seconds of math.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

Also, every aerospace myth they've ever done I can bust/prove with about 30 seconds of math.

Possibly. But:

(1) I'm leery of statements to the effect that you can _prove_ things about the physical world with math. (If it helps, I have a degree and a half in the subject, although it's more focused on discrete optimization and such than stuff relating to physical sustems.) Mathematics can give you a rigorous framework in which to explain why you believe that something _should_ happen, but doesn't (IMO) allow you to _prove_ that it actually does.
(Put it another way: there was nothing wrong with Newtonian mechanics in terms of his mathematics; they just turn out to be a less accurate model than Einstein's relativistic models, which use different basic assumptions and incorporate data that Newton never had.)

(2) Most mathematical demonstrations of anything that's nontrivial will lose almost all of the TV audience.

which leads us to

(3) The whole point of Mythbusters is to reach the bulk of the TV audience with refutations, or demonstrations, of common (myth)contheptionth (*ahem*). Not to convince people already in the relevant field of facts that they already know.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

I'm leery of statements to the effect that you can _prove_ things about the physical world with math.

Well, take the "stewardess gets sucked out of the plane when there's pressure loss" one they did. It takes about five lines to show that a <1 atm pressure differential isn't going to blow anything heavier than peanut packets out the hole.

Anytime they do something that involves fluid dynamics or planes, I have to leave the room because I just end up screaming at the TV.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

I've never seen mythbusters, but from what I gather, the important thing is that they're proving things to their audience's satisfaction, in a way that makes an impression. Sure, the maths can do the same thing, but for 90% of the world that's neither memorable nor convincing. Think of it as evangelism rather than science.

[seekingferret.livejournal.com]

They're NOT scientists and they never claimed to be. They're engineers and quite talented ones. Engineers don't believe in rigor. We believe in one simple question: "Will it work?" That's what Mythbusters is all about.