Talk:2986: Every Scientific Field

My reading of the comic is completely opposite to the current explanation. Rather than the large section being what 'a disproportionate amount of time is spent on', it's the small section, which is why we've heard of that stuff. To me, the large section represents the bulk of what is there to be studied, but is relatively poorly understood, so the point of the comic is emphasising how little we actually know about stuff in relation to what there is to be known. 172.70.160.136 11:16, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

I didn't like the word 'disproportionate' either, because to me it sounded like an accusation of too much time being spent in the wrong branch, which is not what Randall is saying. I reworded and fleshed out the description. Better now? 172.70.111.167 11:38, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

I disagree with "poorly understood" being the central issue, though, rather the branches the general public finds fascinating are often not the scientificially dominating ones. Wasps laying eggs in other insects isn't "poorly understood" at all. It's just that cute baby elephants or pandas draw huge crowds in zoos, whereas 'icky' wasps don't. And e.g. a gyroscope makes for great YouTube videos, but it's no longer a subject of fundamental physics research. 162.158.154.238 13:04, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

I can offer anecdotal evidence that, yes, I would have been perfectly happy not knowing there are more than half a million different kinds of parasitic wasp 162.158.63.6 13:38, 18 September 2024 (UTC)

I think you've misunderstood what I meant by 'poorly understood', though. The point was that there are vast amounts of stuff to know about these subjects, and we have, necessarily, only scratched the surface of that, so in a relative sense, it's poorly understood compared to what we could potentially understand about it. Yes, the general principle of wasps parasitising other organisms is understood, but we don't know all the specifics of every single case (not least because of the vast numbers of species we haven't even identified yet).172.70.85.18 11:10, 19 September 2024 (UTC)

It's not really a matter of understanding, it's whether most of the public has even heard of it and knows that scientists are studying it. Randall's point is that most of what scientists study doesn't get much mention in the mainstream press and lay people don't know about it. Barmar (talk) 14:27, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

I disagree with "dark energy" being a no-interest-for-the-broad-public theme. 172.71.160.70 08:16, 18 September 2024 (UTC)

This stupid site is malfunctioning.

Hi chat. I'm the infamous #FreePalestine "troll". I would go into another rant, but there is a more pressing matter on our hands here. Whenever I try to access this site, I frequently encounter some "technical difficulties" message, claiming that I can't access the database. It occurs both on the school computers and my own device, so it's probably server-side. Can someone get to the bottom of this? Cheers! 141.101.105.48 19:35, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

This has been happening to me too. Reloading the tab almost always fixes it, but it’s still annoying nonetheless. Trogdor147 (talk) 23:49, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

seems to have been fixed now :) 162.158.33.237 07:42, 18 September 2024 (UTC)

Can we make it so that it it only does this for trolls and vandals?172.69.195.27 08:12, 18 September 2024 (UTC)

Vunny, I zougt Mossad already did zis :-) 172.71.160.70 08:16, 18 September 2024 (UTC)

Hmmm. "Hi, I am a troll..." What a strange claim. Does your point benefit from saying that? (Even "I'm the person that others consider to be a troll"?) Friendly advice: Under the remit of making a serious and valid observation, you can remain undistinguished behind your latest IP 'identity', because we don't care if you're a first-time poster or a decades-long contributor in this case.

(As a decade-and-a-bit contributor, if you'll take my word for it, I had of course noticed this occasionally recurring issue had started again but had decided that (if it is sortable) then it didn't need my input to sort.)

I do care about you not trolling, of course, but it's primarily because you say you're the one (with as little reason to take that as true) that now associate you with it. It doesn't add any value, shall we say? And probably neither does this reaction, but that's also down to your decision to make it a point of information, and having no other way to make my worldview known to you privately... 172.69.195.231 09:37, 18 September 2024 (UTC)

First off, if the errors stop you from trolling, then that’s great! I think that most of us have been experiencing the errors you’re mentioning. There’s a little discussion on the Technical Community Portal, but unless Davidy22 or Jeff respond to my pleas for help, there’s nothing that can really be done, as they are the only admins that have access to poke around the server. In addition, Jeff, if you’re reading this, we REALLY need new ‘crats, as otherwise nobody can be promoted to admin. I highly recommend Kynde, as he’s the only active admin on this site. 42.book.addict (talk) 17:01, 18 September 2024 (UTC)

No next button

Why is the next button missing? Shouldn't someone add it back in or something? 172.69.0.170 08:04, 19 September 2024 (UTC)