(no subject)

[sorcyress]

My elljay pants are extremely bankrupt, but I'm probably going to fix that at some point. Twitter is completely not happening ever. Other...stuff.

This is mostly because Sparr was in town this weekend. Yeah. It was excellent, albeit oh-god-oh-god-oh-god¹ in terms of working around my already planned schedule and needing to do homework and such. And I missed dance last night, in favour of Indian food and a printing press (and ohmygodbooks. Because ohmygodbooks. The MITSFS library is my new favourite room in the entire state.)

Soyeah. A better update of adventures may happen later, but I mostly doubt it. On the plus side, unlike the last time he surprised-visited, I actually managed to get my words done every day. Very proud of myself.

Quadrilling on Saturday went well, and I might have thoughts on that, too, but they're kinda overwhelmed by warmfuzzies and the fact that these jeans are now the best pants ever. I like people who understand me, and are willing to communicate in the methods I use best.

I have homework, and Yuletide, and...other stuff. I'm stressed and in denial, which is okay. On the plus side, there are good things this week, too!

***

Thought of the day: I am totally enamored with the concept of mad science, which basically boils down to science-that-is-awesome-and-often-dramatic. However, being a socially conscious sort of gal, it occurs to me that "mad" is a disablist term, and I am uncomfortable using it.

But how do I describe the sort of science that is more focused on electricity and explosions and cloning genetic monstrosities without using harmful language? I am leaning towards the phrase "diabolical science", but willing to entertain suggestions.

That's...all for now. Yeah. Bye!

~Sor
MOOP!

1: I have probably already thought of whatever you are going to say here, and my mind is both dirtier and more witty than yours.

ETA: The first picture in this set is incredible, and not just because it totally looks like OLDman from Legend of Neil.

Comments

[herbertinc.livejournal.com]

Extreme science!

[austein]

++

[austein]

MITSFS is conveniently open most of the time you're in W20 already.

[harena.livejournal.com]

Steampunk Ferret Science! :D

[distant-flicker.livejournal.com]

Does it make it better or worse that I think, after a certain point, we can accept that words have acquired colloquial meanings that are rooted in but removed from their original meanings? Mad might have started out as a term for insane, but it's developed a lot of meanings since then that I think it's not necessarily that bad to use it?

That said:

1) I am admittedly very un-PC and kind of a dick
2) Diabolocal science would be awesome.

[lex-of-green.livejournal.com]

But how do I describe the sort of science that is more focused on electricity and explosions and cloning genetic monstrosities without using harmful language? I am leaning towards the phrase "diabolical science"

My friends and I frequently refer to it as "Science!" with the capital letter and the exclamation point included as part of the word. I think this usace originated with White Wolf's "Adventure!" RPG, but I'm not sure. You can communicate Science! verbally by exclaiming the word and pointing your finger enthusiastically into the air.

[marcmagus]

I do this too, sometimes. I got it from the RTLB (Rules To Live By) LARP system by Interactivities Ink. Don't know who, if any one source, originated it. I think it might appear in some published GURPS sourcebooks as well.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that I get that from "She Blinded Me With Science" (1983). At least, that's the way I always hear it in my head, and I think of it with the capital S and the exclamation mark.

[joshuazelinsky.livejournal.com]

I take it that it isn't sufficient if I, in my capacity as someone with past mental health issues, give you permission to use the term "mad"? No? Oh well... was worth a shot.

More substantially, the problem with the phrase "mad science" has little to do with the history of the term "mad". The primary problems are:

1) it almost inevitably confuses engineering and medicine with science. Agatha Heterodyne for example does steampunk robot engineering. Narbonic does genetic engineering. They aren't testing hypotheses, which is the core of science.

2) The idea reinforces negative stereotypes about science and scientists in the prevailing world-view regarding ethics and consequences. There's a perception that scientists are amoral entities more interested in peering into the dark depths and finding out the True Secrets We Were Not Meant to Know. This is inaccurate. While there certainly have been unethical or dangerous experiments (Tuskegee and LA-602 both come to mind) that's not generally what scientists do.

3) The stereotype of "mad scientists" also connects strongly to certain other stereotypes of scientists: they are nerdy, asocial, and are generally not "cool". With the sometimes exception of certain Heterodynes, when was the last time you saw a "mad scientist" who didn't have hair all askew? What fraction of mad scientists look like http://particlezoo.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/richard_feynman.jpg or http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/doc/image.rhtm/Turing2.jpg ? To some extent this is the fault of Einstein who popularized that look as the scientist look but at the same time connected it with some very negative stereotypes.

Note that an adoption of the term "diabolical science" probably reinforces 1 and 2 while avoiding issues with 3 since everyone knows that evil is cool.

[herbertinc.livejournal.com]

So instead of "mad science" she should just call it "engineering?"

...That actually fits with the engineers I know, scarily enough.

[marcmagus]

Regarding 1, it settles pretty nicely into that overlap between Applied Science and Engineering, which wouldn't have been as distinct in the late 19th century as it is today. Dr. Frankenstein is probably the quintessential "mad scientist", and is definitely more in the realm of applied sciences than engineering. It's not really all that clear a line, especially in an historical context. Unfortunately, you're completely right that the combination of this fact and these stereotypes leads to major problems in the modern world.

It would be neat if we could remind the world that these characters generally represent people who have been outcast from the scientific community for their failure to meet some combination of standards of ethics, morality, and appropriate procedures for getting meaningful results. The last is why the cry of the "mad scientist" is "They all said it couldn't be done, but I'll show them!" Today that cry is usually heard when what they actually said was, "Your methodology is crap and can never yield meaningful results, stop pretending you've shown anything."

(For those playing along at home, obviously no, you can't step up as a token member of a disadvantaged group and state on behalf of that group that a term widely held by that group to be harmful actually isn't, nor can you give one person permission to use it anyway because they "don't mean it that way" or somesuch.)

[nurrynur.livejournal.com]

Awesome science
Risky science
risk aware science
RACS (risk aware consensual science? :P) "raks" or "rak science"
weird science (*hums*)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

Regarding Science!: I suggest "double-chocolate-awesome-Science," only half-jokingly.

Regarding footnote: {raises eyebrow} Oh, really? You might think so, but we should probably leave it at that.