4 ms·

You can't claim that physicists' definition of energy is unclear merely because it is also used colloquially to mean other things No, but I also don't see lab

You can't claim that physicists' definition of energy is unclear merely because it is also used colloquially to mean other things No, but I also don't see lab scientists bustle when they're in a conversation where it's used colloquially.

theseatoms 11y ago
You should hear militant (physical/philosophical) materialists react to the use of the word "energy" in a yoga class. ;)
pron 11y ago
I didn't bustle. A commenter expressed confusion about the meaning of the term, and I provided the common academic definition. Others are welcome to list the full range of colloquial uses. I would, however, note that a physicist would bustle if someone tried to use the word energy with a different meaning when trying to understand a physical process. In this case, the only way to understand what it is that feminists want when it comes to sexism, is to understand what we mean when we use the word, which is also its academic meaning. For example, if you think feminists are against sexism (which we are), but also understand sexism to mean "treating men and women differently", then you'd be completely confused as to our goals. Perhaps you'd think that our goal is to erase the differences between the sexes. That would indeed be a silly goal, and you may be right in getting angry that intelligent people think such rubbish. While in fact, our goal is very clear: correct the gross imbalance of power between the sexes. To achieve that, we seek to uncover the mechanism which perpetuates it, which we call sexism. Thankfully, the academic community has been studying sexism for a few decades, and we now know a thing or two about it. No reason to be angry. In fact, if you understood what feminists mean when we say sexism (which hopefully you now do), I think you'd be far less angry.

4 ms·

You can't claim that physicists' definition of energy is unclear merely because it is also used colloquially to mean other things No, but I also don't see lab

by forgottenpass 11y ago

theseatoms 11y ago
You should hear militant (physical/philosophical) materialists react to the use of the word "energy" in a yoga class. ;)
pron 11y ago
I didn't bustle. A commenter expressed confusion about the meaning of the term, and I provided the common academic definition. Others are welcome to list the full range of colloquial uses. I would, however, note that a physicist would bustle if someone tried to use the word energy with a different meaning when trying to understand a physical process. In this case, the only way to understand what it is that feminists want when it comes to sexism, is to understand what we mean when we use the word, which is also its academic meaning. For example, if you think feminists are against sexism (which we are), but also understand sexism to mean "treating men and women differently", then you'd be completely confused as to our goals. Perhaps you'd think that our goal is to erase the differences between the sexes. That would indeed be a silly goal, and you may be right in getting angry that intelligent people think such rubbish. While in fact, our goal is very clear: correct the gross imbalance of power between the sexes. To achieve that, we seek to uncover the mechanism which perpetuates it, which we call sexism. Thankfully, the academic community has been studying sexism for a few decades, and we now know a thing or two about it. No reason to be angry. In fact, if you understood what feminists mean when we say sexism (which hopefully you now do), I think you'd be far less angry.