this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
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Science Memes

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Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

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If you are here asking: "Is this a science meme?"

Probably, yes. We use the Dawkins definition of meme: a replicating idea, not just an image macro with a fact on it. A good post here doesn't need to teach you something. It needs to make you ask something: who, what, where, when, and especially why.

Science isn't a filing cabinet of facts, it's a conversation. For example, a photo of an eel or other localized wildlife counts because most people never see one, and wonder is the first step of inquiry. A car meme counts if it makes you curious about what's under the bonnet. If you want to talk about something you noticed in the world, chances are someone else wants to talk about it too.

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See the pinned paper on Shitposting as Public Pedagogy if you want the academic case for why this works.



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[–] ms_lane@lemmy.world 77 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Making it easy was the mistake, the internet was great when knowing what tcp/ip actually is was a barrier to entry.

Gatekeeping isn't a dirty word.

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 59 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This also exposed just how many stupid people are out there. We all assumed that making infinite knowledge available would be the rising tide which lifts all boats; instead, the rising tide is a tsunami of idiocy and willful ignorance.

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 33 points 10 months ago

I know that I was completely wrong in this regard. You know, like how Mark Twain said something like travel was anathema to bigotry.

So, I thought that the reason bigotry existed was that people are afraid of the unknown, so if you forced people together, they'd have to realize that we're all the same.

But now I realize that the main reason bigotry exists is that people are staying in contact with other bigots. The part about meeting diverse people is important, but far less important than pulling people out of their comfort zone to combat bigotry. So, the internet amplifies bigotry, because they'll never be out-of-contact with their local bigots, even if they travel away from them.

[–] Whostosay@sh.itjust.works 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Can we please just make network that has a higher barrier to entry than spending 1000 dollars on an iPhone but through a 4 year loans?

And before some c suite fuck head reads this, I don't mean cost more money. I mean cost just a tiny bit more intellectually.

[–] bigchungus@piefed.blahaj.zone 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Are we not already on such a network? There are some here that moan about the Fediverse being too hard of a concept for the laymen to wrap their heads around. I do not disagree with them, but I like to see it as a moron filter that doesn't seem to exist on most other places on the internet.

[–] Whostosay@sh.itjust.works 11 points 10 months ago

I mean, I just went to a site and made an account.

Facebook has the same barriers in place, and ironically enough, I can view our content without an account and not theirs.

[–] black_flag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 10 months ago

I mean, a lotta fucking Nazis knew what TCP/IP was back in the 80s, too.

[–] shneancy@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

this would would only help our sanity, the stupid people would still be stupid, just not as loudly

[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Them being stupid, loudly, together, is making all of them stupider as individuals, too.

[–] saltesc@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The ad populum fallacy on full display.

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

I don't know, man. I saw a Facebook poll saying ad populum isn't a thing.

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 1 points 10 months ago

In this regard, I absolutely have come to agree.

I always say: "The Internet should be for anyone! But it shouldn't have been for everyone ."