Do Black Holes Matter?

I just finished reading an article about a star that has suddenly disappeared. Astronomers suspect that it collapsed into a Black Hole without first going supernova, a theoretical possibility that has never been observed before.

And I thought, so what? What relevance does this have to Black Lives? Why should money be spent studying Black Holes, or the Higgs Boson or Fermat's Last Theorem for that matter? Shouldn't this money be spent funding anti-racism? Aren't Astronomy and Theoretical Physics and Pure Mathematics bastions of White Male Privilege?

Shouldn't we defund Astronomy? MLK thought the space program should have been defunded and money allocated to racial equality. Nobody listened and look where we are.

What say you? Do Black Lives Matter or do Black Holes Matter?

 

You can't "fix" racism no matter how much money you spend so no, we shouldn't spend any money on it, it all should go to science.

 

Without science and all the advantages it has brought us, we'd still be living short and brutish lives.

Racism is a social issue, and nothing to do with science. Indeed, the consensus is that there is no scientific basis for racial differences.

 

Token.

 

Counter-example.

Another.

 

Science has a racism problem according to this distinguished journal:

"We are the editors of a science journal, committed to publishing and disseminating exciting work across the biological sciences. We are 13 scientists. Not one of us is Black. Underrepresentation of Black scientists goes beyond our team—to our authors, reviewers, and advisory board. And we are not alone. It is easy to divert blame, to point out that the journal is a reflection of the scientific establishment, to quote statistics. But it is this epidemic of denial of the integral role that each and every member of our society plays in supporting the status quo by failing to actively fight it that has allowed overt and systemic racism to flourish, crippling the lives and livelihoods of Black Americans, including Black scientists.Science has a racism problem."

https://kractivist.org/science-has-a-racism-problem/

 

So you are joining the "epidemic of denial" the editors of Cell decries in the above quote.

 

I'm sorry you don't like the fact I can post counterexamples to your claim.
Should I continue?

 

Science is colour blind. If society can't ensure diversity then that's the fault of society, not science.

 

Not according to these scientists of color:

"A reckoning has come this week for systemic racism in the sciences. Black scientists and students are sharing their experiences on Twitter of being dismissed and discriminated against in academia using the hashtag #BlackintheIvory. Many also participated in a June 10th strike meant to shut down STEM industries in support of the Black Lives Matter movement."

https://www.theverge.com/21286924/science-racism-strike-stem-black-lives-matter-protests

(emphasis mine)

So you disagree with the editors of Cell, science doesn't have a racism problem.

Do you think those who participated in #ShutDownStem are misguided?

 

And here I thought that it was Republicans against science...at least according to leftists. Looks more like leftists are the actual ones against science.

 

I disagreed with your statement - the one I quoted - and provided counter-examples to demonstrate its inaccuracy.
I can provide more, if you like.

 

We can shut down science and go back to living short and brutish lives, if that's what they want. Is skin colour more important than making progress? Does science work? Yes, obviously. Just think about that the next time you take your meds......you should stop this hysteria and think about the facts.

ETA: you can either do science or you can't. I got a degree in maths and realised that was my limit, I was never going to get a masters, so I left uni and took up finance and made some nice money, tx very much. I don't look at those with better degrees with envy: they're better than me at that.

 

The racism that the left says exists now was around and to the extremes they suggest up until the CRM slowly and incrementally over five decades all but disappeared. When was the last time there was a racially motivated murder committed by an organization whose only purpose is to destroy black America? All of the Jim Crow restrictions and limitations upon black Americans prior to the 1960s no longer exist. There is anecdotal incidences of such stupidity but it is against the law to discriminate and to create hateful acts especially those solely based on race. We can fix racism but it goes both ways everyone has to agree that it's an abomination and those who have been affected by it in the past have to trust that and let it happen. Claiming victimhood where none exists only perpetuates the problem. This is America where we do our best to fix things that need to be fixed, we don't always succeed but we don't give up either. This is not the case anywhere else in the world where racism exists not only has it never improved but it is so ingrained in those cultures it is the norm. America is the only place in the world where one can transcend the limitations of their birth by their own industry and self determination regardless of race, ethnicity, creed or gender.

 

Black Holes matter, and Black Lives, along with other lives, matter. The BLM movement is an anarchistic absurdity that has nothing to do with any lives.

 

This thread is quite a stretch

 

I would say it is a matter of choice. Businesses can support one or the other or neither. Whose money do you want to defund?

 

However, if you were to un-follow it....

 

Federal and university money.

 

For the life of me I thought that t his thread was going to be a discussion about Detroit.

 

I'm 100% behind defunding federal money. Universities can decide for themselves how they spend their money.

 

The work at nasa continues because that's what Trayvon would have wanted.

I assumed everyone knew this.

 

Black science guy says, "People dont think the universe be like it is but it do".

 

Can you imagine the Black Holes Matter protests? Jeez. Imagine being in a library, studying for your midterm, and this happens:



Only it's about black holes. And then some girl annoyingly says, "Do you think black holes matter? Do you think black holes matter!?" And you're forced to say, "Can you just go away? I have a midterm tomorrow."

Alas, parody is becoming a reality, as #ShutDownSTEM is an actual thing now: https://www.shutdownstem.com/