5 ms·
As usual, half the responses miss the forest for the trees. Arguing about why it’s not actually 1/(x^2 + y^2) is the worst kind of pedantry.
by NotYourLawyer 3y ago
As usual, half the responses miss the forest for the trees. Arguing about why it’s not actually 1/(x^2 + y^2) is the worst kind of pedantry.
- pests 3y agoI thought the same thing. Half the answers were about calculating the perfect mathematical shape completely unaswering anything about the origin of the phenomenon. The shape wasn't even in the original question at all but only included as an example (how would he even measure it?)
- raziel2701 3y agoI wonder about this so much, why does this particular set of people obsess/fixate on this unimportant part of the question?? I see it happen over and over.
- freetime2 3y agoI think it's just the "Law of Triviality" [1]. They probably don't know enough about algae to answer the question, so they focus on the parts that they do understand. I don't think it's unique to "this particular set of people" - I see this over and over again with people from all walks of life. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality
- rendaw 3y agoI think part of the issue is that this was posted in the physics stack exchange... with the biology tag, rather than the biology stack exchange.
- freetime2 3y agoIt doesn't seem that bad to me. The original post asks why it resembles the graph of a particular formula. If there's a formula that better describes it, I feel like that's worth noting. And a more accurate description could yield clues into the underlying physics, or be used to exclude certain hypotheses. It’s also a “just for fun” type question (although I suppose the answer could yield deep insight into the nature of our universe, you never know). If anyone happens to learn anything new while reading, even if it doesn’t answer the original question, then that’s a positive outcome in my opinion.
- kuhewa 3y ago> If there's a formula that better describes it, I feel like that's worth noting. Especially when the original post seemed to think the pattern may have emerged with/from underlying geometric properties
- klyrs 3y agoI noticed the same. But that's probably what you get for asking about plant growth on a physics forum... I'd have gone for the biology stackexchange, personally.
- saagarjha 3y agoAlgae aren’t actually trees.
- pyinstallwoes 3y agoThe type of pedantry rife in ChatGPT imploring one to accommodate to the opinion of sanctioned views, aka "..and they are generally not accepted by mainstream historians, archaeologists, and scientists." Take one turn towards curiosity or speculation and BAM, no outlier thinking!