this post was submitted on 29 May 2025
619 points (98.7% liked)

Science Memes

14707 readers
975 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

He's not an expert doesn't equal he lacks any knowledge whatsoever. He might lack the knowledge to theorise what the bones are used for but has enough knowledge to know that it doesn't work as a muscle attachment point. How is this paradoxical?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's such a fine point to be that knowledged but just shy of being able to actual speak confidently on the matter. It means they don't have the knowledge to speak confidently on the matter that they just did. Paradoxical.

They don't speak for their own credentials and it's unwise to trust a confident statement made right after saying:
I'm not an expert but...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Its pretty common to be that level of knowledgeable. A lot of people are casually interested enough about animals and biology to have heard discussions about muscular structures that they can determine when something doesn't work. It doesn't mean they can form their own hypothesis on what a spinosaurus skeletal structure is used for, especially if he knows that even experts are still arguing about it until today.

It's wiser to trust the words of someone who knows his own limitations and admits to it than someone who confidently uses a word without knowing the meaning. You can't seem to grasp that people can have a varied level of knowledge about different things within the same subject.

You're basically saying that someone being confident about your car having a puncture is being paradoxical if he also doesn't have the confidence to say what punctured it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

No. Vastly different levels of complexity and specialization.

You just want to believe Wikipedia deep dives account for actual self knowledge. It just makes them a ke to repeat the arguments of others, not add their own opinion. They didn't say that experts agree it wasn't for muscle attachment they made their own statement regurgitating the words of others.

I'm just not willing to hold undue faith because it makes me feel better.