• wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    542·
    il y a 3 mois

    “Wish granted. Electrons, being a human construct, have now always been defined slightly differently. Just as Franklin got the polarity wrong and you still use his labeling system, J.J. Thompson will now have fundamentally misunderstood the nature of the electron, leading to a cascading assumption by later scientists that the number of electrons in a neutral atom is one greater than the number of protons. Even though this completely breaks the math of quantum mechanics, everyone is just used to subtracting one at this point. This is a minutely worse world, but as a bonus, every physicist who sees you will now be preternaturally certain that you are personally to blame. You’re welcome.”

    • Juice@midwest.socialEnglish
      26·
      il y a 3 mois

      It is way too common to confuse the abstractions we use to understand reality with reality itself. Like the scientists who work with this stuff are really consistent in keeping the two separated, but the moment a theory gets in the hands of a journalist or god forbid a politician, it starts wreaking havok

      • AlfalFaFail@lemmy.mlEnglish
        6·
        il y a 3 mois

        It is way too common to confuse the abstractions we use to understand reality with reality itself. Like the scientists who work with this stuff are really consistent in keeping the two separated

        I wish this was true. I remember seeing a physicist talking about how the laws of physics are mathematical in nature and that the laws of physics needed to exist before the universe do the universe is made of math. I don’t think the vast majority of physicists have a philosophical grounding for the types of ontological claims they make. Even less so since “shut up and calculate” became the professional axiom.

  • WoodScientist@lemmy.worldEnglish
    29·
    il y a 3 mois

    I always liked the idea that the genie rules, when they’re presented, are not laws/rules so much as hard physical limits. You can’t wish for more wishes because the genie just doesn’t have that much power. They’re powerful, but they’re not God with a capital G. The genie tries to add a electron to every atom in the universe. If fails and collapses with exhaustion before it’s even finished adding one extra electron to every atom in your body.

  • Pearl@lemmy.mlEnglish
    10·
    il y a 3 mois

    Barbaric.

    Just make ionic bonds a little stickier for a minute.

  • Zkuld@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    il y a 3 mois

    no need to go to such lengths, it’s enough to add one singular extra electron anywhere to brick the whole universe

  • RAFAELRAMIREZ@lemmy.worldEnglish
    514·
    il y a 3 mois

    This is the most dangerous piece of sarcasm I’ve seen today. Some people take it as a personal challenge! Life is definitely too short for that kind of stress.