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"Yet, like the proverbial frog in boiling water, the average person back then may only have realised slowly just how grim conditions in their world were getting

"Yet, like the proverbial frog in boiling water, the average person back then may only have realised slowly just how grim conditions in their world were getting..." I just have to point out that scientists have in fact tried this, and the frog in the water, as soon as it gets uncomfortably warm, jumps out. There is no evidence that it is possible to raise the temperature slowly enough that it does not do this, and it's not for lack of trying. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog

bin_bash 5y ago
This and “ostrich with its head in the sand” drive me nuts
- brimble 5y ago
  Then there's all the social science research or pop-business/pop-psychology crap that's been disproven or failed to replicate, but nonetheless will seemingly be treated as fact by most people... I dunno, forever, at this rate. And don't you dare question it.
- Jalad 5y ago
  CGP Grey actually covers both of these misconceptions in some video: - https://youtu.be/F9-iSl_eg5U?t=163 https://youtu.be/F9-iSl_eg5U?t=163 - https://youtu.be/F9-iSl_eg5U?t=50 https://youtu.be/F9-iSl_eg5U?t=50 Which is neat, because I'm now also frustrated by both of these "fun facts"
  - datavirtue 5y ago
    Yeah, I would not tango with an ostrich. About fifteen years ago I had just moved to the country and had taken a quick trip by myself to the local store. Shortly after leaving my house I came upon a turkey in the road. I stopped, got out of the car and started walking up to it. It just sat there waiting. It had perched on the guard rail and as I got closer to it I noticed it's huge razor sharp talons. I said to myself "dude, your family is expecting you home safe in a few minutes...get back in the car".
    - ghaff 5y ago
      Knowing what we know now it's almost surprising that certain species of birds weren't connected to certain species of dinosaurs before they were.
- samatman 5y ago
  You'll hate Kipling's Just So Stories then.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  Or "bad times create strong men, strobg nen create good times' chestnut Anyone parroting this crap ever seen what 5 years of hard labour do a human body?
belter 5y ago
Now they are trying with a blue planet and 7.7 billion habitants.
- trhway 5y ago
  some are already trying to jump out.
jodrellblank 5y ago
To be fair it says “like the proverbial frog” not “like a real frog”. In the proverb, the frog boils.
swsieber 5y ago
There is a small and sparky piece of me that says that of course it doesn't work - we've boiled all the ones it does work on. A tad bit more seriously, a slightly larger piece of me wonders if this true a long time ago for a certain species of frog.
- vba616 5y ago
  It made me think of how frogs or amphibians in general are considered to be sensitive indicators of toxins in the environment. Sort of the opposite of not noticing important but subtle changes around them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioindicator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioindicator "Amphibians, particularly anurans (frogs and toads), are increasingly used as bioindicators of contaminant accumulation in pollution studies.[18] Anurans absorb toxic chemicals through their skin and their larval gill membranes and are sensitive to alterations in their environment.[19] They have a poor ability to detoxify pesticides that are absorbed, inhaled, or ingested by eating contaminated food.[19] This allows residues, especially of organochlorine pesticides, to accumulate in their systems." I feel like this has been a well known thing for all my life, and one of the references in the article is from 1981.
  - daniel-cussen 5y ago
    I've heard in the South of Chile there used to be all these "sapitos," frogs, that completely vanished when water became fluorinated.
- RobertMiller 5y ago
  I doubt you could slow-boil any frog, or any other ectotherm. Frogs, and the rest of them, produce relatively little body heat of their own and rely on the environment to regulate their temperature. They do this by moving to cool places when they're too hot, or moving to hot places when they're too cool.

bin_bash 5y ago

This and “ostrich with its head in the sand” drive me nuts

brimble 5y ago
Then there's all the social science research or pop-business/pop-psychology crap that's been disproven or failed to replicate, but nonetheless will seemingly be treated as fact by most people... I dunno, forever, at this rate. And don't you dare question it.
Jalad 5y ago
CGP Grey actually covers both of these misconceptions in some video: - https://youtu.be/F9-iSl_eg5U?t=163 https://youtu.be/F9-iSl_eg5U?t=163 - https://youtu.be/F9-iSl_eg5U?t=50 https://youtu.be/F9-iSl_eg5U?t=50 Which is neat, because I'm now also frustrated by both of these "fun facts"
- datavirtue 5y ago
  Yeah, I would not tango with an ostrich. About fifteen years ago I had just moved to the country and had taken a quick trip by myself to the local store. Shortly after leaving my house I came upon a turkey in the road. I stopped, got out of the car and started walking up to it. It just sat there waiting. It had perched on the guard rail and as I got closer to it I noticed it's huge razor sharp talons. I said to myself "dude, your family is expecting you home safe in a few minutes...get back in the car".
  - ghaff 5y ago
    Knowing what we know now it's almost surprising that certain species of birds weren't connected to certain species of dinosaurs before they were.
samatman 5y ago
You'll hate Kipling's Just So Stories then.
ClumsyPilot 5y ago
Or "bad times create strong men, strobg nen create good times' chestnut Anyone parroting this crap ever seen what 5 years of hard labour do a human body?

belter 5y ago

Now they are trying with a blue planet and 7.7 billion habitants.

trhway 5y ago
some are already trying to jump out.

jodrellblank 5y ago

To be fair it says “like the proverbial frog” not “like a real frog”. In the proverb, the frog boils.

swsieber 5y ago

There is a small and sparky piece of me that says that of course it doesn't work - we've boiled all the ones it does work on. A tad bit more seriously, a slightly larger piece of me wonders if this true a long time ago for a certain species of frog.

vba616 5y ago
It made me think of how frogs or amphibians in general are considered to be sensitive indicators of toxins in the environment. Sort of the opposite of not noticing important but subtle changes around them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioindicator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioindicator "Amphibians, particularly anurans (frogs and toads), are increasingly used as bioindicators of contaminant accumulation in pollution studies.[18] Anurans absorb toxic chemicals through their skin and their larval gill membranes and are sensitive to alterations in their environment.[19] They have a poor ability to detoxify pesticides that are absorbed, inhaled, or ingested by eating contaminated food.[19] This allows residues, especially of organochlorine pesticides, to accumulate in their systems." I feel like this has been a well known thing for all my life, and one of the references in the article is from 1981.
- daniel-cussen 5y ago
  I've heard in the South of Chile there used to be all these "sapitos," frogs, that completely vanished when water became fluorinated.
RobertMiller 5y ago
I doubt you could slow-boil any frog, or any other ectotherm. Frogs, and the rest of them, produce relatively little body heat of their own and rely on the environment to regulate their temperature. They do this by moving to cool places when they're too hot, or moving to hot places when they're too cool.