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The Skeptics Guide #737 - Aug 24 2019 (Ad Free) (Patreon)

Published:
2019-08-24 16:59:27
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

5-10 Years: Solar Roads

News Items: Wind Turbines, Bleach for Autism, Grain-Free Dog Food, Terraforming Mars

Who's That Noisy

Name That Logical Fallacy

Science or Fiction 

Files

Previews only

Comments

Csaba Türkösi

I'd like to point out two nails-on-a-chalkboard moments in this episode, repeated basic errors that could easily have been avoided: (1) Power is defined as the rate of energy production or consumption over time. Energy is measured in joules, power in watts, 1 W = 1 J/s . In practice, energy is also measured in watt-hours, kilowatt-hours etc. which means one watt x one hour and so on. "Watts per hour" DOES NOT MAKE ANY SENSE! (2) Ilya is a man's name in Russia, you could have easily looked that up on Wikipedia, Ivanov has an article with a photo of him. Please don't let the show's standards slip like this! This is like when someone tries to make an important point, but their writing is full of of spelling mistakes, so you can't take them seriously.

Jason Goertzen
>>26122215

You actually can take such a person seriously by focusing on the important point rather than on the trivial details. In fact, it's essential to good communication to be charitable in this way. Thoughtful reception is as important as thoughtful transmission. Communication is a team sport.

Csaba Türkösi
>>26122215

OK, but you can't always assume that the receiver will be generous, especially those who want to discredit the skeptical movement. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. "See, you can't trust these skeptics, they don't even know what the unit of measurement of power is or whether a scientist is a man or a woman." We may want skeptics to use the steel man argument in debates, this should not however give us permission to be sloppy. That would amount to undermining our own message.

WojtekS

WattHr or more usually kWh for houses and MWHr is just a measure of energy (KWhr ->1000J/S * 3600S) . It convenient scaled for thing like house energy usage, and power station supply per hour. Small numbers that fit in hour brains. Writing a house uses 66,404,938 Joules doesn't give you all the right info in the world of power supply. KWHr is just a form of compression.

WojtekS

....the Watts bit something about the power....the hrs bit something about the rate.

Kevin Schuette

Frankly I'd be down with hitting a massive asteroid into mars just for funzies!

robot0verlord

Jason as a native speaker of a Slavic language I can say it is extremely jarring to hear Ilya referred to as a she. Just totally kills the flow of the story. The whole job of a science communicator is in the communication bit. If I just wanted pure science I could go read the dry technical articles myself you know. Popular science podcasts can’t have slip ups like that.

robot0verlord

Luckily that sort of thing is rare on SGU and it’s still by far my favorite podcast. I’ve listened to every single episode since 2005 and can’t wait for the download to come in every Sunday :-)