5 ms·

That's just a load of click bate (read: bullshit). That's not what people mean when they ask "What's our closest neighbour" at all... interesting thoughts perha

by xemoka 8y ago

That's just a load of click bate (read: bullshit). That's not what people mean when they ask "What's our closest neighbour" at all... interesting thoughts perhaps, but disingenuous.

abakker 8y ago
I don't know...I think it raises an interesting distinction between "What planet is the closest to us right now?" and "what planet gets the closest to us?" and "what planet is the closest to us most of the time?" It's cool to be reminded that these are different concepts, even if the actual results should not surprise us too much.
- dmix 8y ago
  It's also a very useful statistical lesson. As averages or nearest is not always representative of the day-to-day reality which decisions and intuitions might be based on.
- zuminator 8y ago
  Yes, reminds me of that sf movie/tv show trope where the invaders are coming in from outer space, we see them passing Saturn, then Jupiter, then Mars, then the Moon, on their approach to Earth. As if the planets were all neatly lined up based on their orbits. Because in the minds of most people that's how it "should" look to zoom in from outer space to our planet. Whereas what this is demonstrating is that on average the planet the invaders would be most likely to pass close to on their approach to Earth/Moon system would be Mercury.
  - Beldin 8y ago
    This is complete speculation: If you're coming from outside the solar system and want to end up orbiting earth, you probably need to change your delta-v significantly. Perhaps passing by the gas/ice giants isn't that bad a way of doing that?
gojomo 8y ago
But "what people mean", in their over-simplified grade-school understanding, is the actual bullshit. This is a well-calculated, correct answer from astrophysics experts. If it's 'clickbait', it's not the abusive kind, but the piques-interest-and-teaches-something-new kind. Most readers probably learned something new as well, as the @PhysicsToday Twitter account pre-teased the article with a poll – https://twitter.com/PhysicsToday/status/1105460820148961280 https://twitter.com/PhysicsToday/status/1105460820148961280 – and fewer than 1-in-5 respondents got the answer right.
LASR 8y ago
First of all. It's click bait. Not click 'bate'. Secondly, did you even read? The author has some rigorous math describing and supporting the headline. I don't know how much more strongly someone would have to prove something to you than to show you the math for you to be convinced. I guess you're the kind of person who is not satisfied by anything at all. Fine. Keep your mind closed. And your mouth too.

by xemoka 8y ago

That's just a load of click bate (read: bullshit). That's not what people mean when they ask "What's our closest neighbour" at all... interesting thoughts perhaps, but disingenuous.

abakker 8y ago

I don't know...I think it raises an interesting distinction between "What planet is the closest to us right now?" and "what planet gets the closest to us?" and "what planet is the closest to us most of the time?" It's cool to be reminded that these are different concepts, even if the actual results should not surprise us too much.

dmix 8y ago
It's also a very useful statistical lesson. As averages or nearest is not always representative of the day-to-day reality which decisions and intuitions might be based on.
zuminator 8y ago
Yes, reminds me of that sf movie/tv show trope where the invaders are coming in from outer space, we see them passing Saturn, then Jupiter, then Mars, then the Moon, on their approach to Earth. As if the planets were all neatly lined up based on their orbits. Because in the minds of most people that's how it "should" look to zoom in from outer space to our planet. Whereas what this is demonstrating is that on average the planet the invaders would be most likely to pass close to on their approach to Earth/Moon system would be Mercury.
- Beldin 8y ago
  This is complete speculation: If you're coming from outside the solar system and want to end up orbiting earth, you probably need to change your delta-v significantly. Perhaps passing by the gas/ice giants isn't that bad a way of doing that?

gojomo 8y ago

But "what people mean", in their over-simplified grade-school understanding, is the actual bullshit. This is a well-calculated, correct answer from astrophysics experts. If it's 'clickbait', it's not the abusive kind, but the piques-interest-and-teaches-something-new kind. Most readers probably learned something new as well, as the @PhysicsToday Twitter account pre-teased the article with a poll – https://twitter.com/PhysicsToday/status/1105460820148961280 https://twitter.com/PhysicsToday/status/1105460820148961280 – and fewer than 1-in-5 respondents got the answer right.

LASR 8y ago

First of all. It's click bait. Not click 'bate'. Secondly, did you even read? The author has some rigorous math describing and supporting the headline. I don't know how much more strongly someone would have to prove something to you than to show you the math for you to be convinced. I guess you're the kind of person who is not satisfied by anything at all. Fine. Keep your mind closed. And your mouth too.