this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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Science Memes

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Hummingbird feet (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (13 children)

Last year my daughter told me her grade 4 teacher had told the class "Well nobody really knows how magnets work" to which my science-obsessed daughter replied "You mean you don't really know how magnets work!"

I confirmed to her that yes, our understanding of magnetism is about as complete as it can get. Of all the mysteries the universe has to offer, magnetism is not one of them.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (10 children)

What that teacher probably wanted to say was that, while we can explain how magnetism works, no one can tell you why it happens.

[–] venoft 21 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Nature doesn't have a reason to do things. There's no 'why' in anything, other than 'the laws of physics make it do so'.

[–] madejackson 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

For completeness, we cannot say for sure if we even exist. The universe could very well just be an imagination and nothing really matters, including the laws of physics and our understanding of magnets.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In this year alone, I've had so many things happen that just scream we live in a simulation, it genuinely wouldn't even surprise me if it was true.

Either way, nature is our one true god.

[–] elbarto777 2 points 1 year ago

I'm addicted to solipsism. I know I'm meaningless in the grand scheme of things. But I've been thinking that when I die and cease to observe the universe and be aware that it exists, then what's the point of it existing?

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