Common MythConceptions

Thanks for the post Mercurial.

I was surprised to learn that glass is not a liquid - we were taught this at university, with the explanation of glass in old cathedrals where the bottom was far thicker than the top.
 
Thanks for the post Mercurial.

I was surprised to learn that glass is not a liquid - we were taught this at university, with the explanation of glass in old cathedrals where the bottom was far thicker than the top.

My pleasure :) It found it very useful. There were many of these beliefs that I held but this infograph set me straight :)
 
Wow, the tongue part is a bit confusing. We were taught that separate sections is for different tastes. There was also even a test for it...
 
Wow, the tongue part is a bit confusing. We were taught that separate sections is for different tastes. There was also even a test for it...

Yeah that is a well known one. It is funny that we have known that one is not true for years and yet it still gets taught as fact. You can disprove it easily by placing sugar or salt anywhere on your tongue.
 
"We actually have close to 20 senses". Yeah ok but you're mincing definitions now. Our senses are primarily thought of as those tools we use to engage directly with the world. Hunger, thirst, pain etc. aren't tools in the same sense.
 
Here is the full size image :)

Sorry, but it's really difficult to read the small version.

1276_Common-Mythconceptions_Oct22nd.png
 
what frightens me more than anything is the vaccines thing.

really people actually believe that? well I suppose people believe 2000 year old books as fact and buy apple products, so there really should not be a surprise there...
 
what frightens me more than anything is the vaccines thing.

really people actually believe that? well I suppose people believe 2000 year old books as fact and buy apple products, so there really should not be a surprise there...

Some of them probably fell on a Baxteen when they were young.
 
I would like to add one, because the times I have to repeat myself with this one is staggering.

Cold weather makes you sick. In studies of cold transmission, people who are chilled are no more likely to get sick than those who were not. It may be that cold weather keeps people indoors, where germs are more likely to catch up with you.
 
"We actually have close to 20 senses". Yeah ok but you're mincing definitions now. Our senses are primarily thought of as those tools we use to engage directly with the world. Hunger, thirst, pain etc. aren't tools in the same sense.

That's not really mincing definitions. The "non-traditional" senses are most definitely also tools we use to engage directly with the world.
 
That's not really mincing definitions. The "non-traditional" senses are most definitely also tools we use to engage directly with the world.
In a very basic sense I've got access to my 5 senses at all times - they're here at the periphery ready to engage. Hunger isn't always available, and when it is - it's more of a circumstantial motivator than a tool for direct experience of the external world.

I get what you're saying...but it kinda just makes ambiguous the notion of senses as readily-available tools with which to engage.
 
In a very basic sense I've got access to my 5 senses at all times - they're here at the periphery ready to engage. Hunger isn't always available, and when it is - it's more of a circumstantial motivator than a tool for direct experience of the external world.

I get what you're saying...but it kinda just makes ambiguous the notion of senses as readily-available tools with which to engage.

I don't really know why you want to use "readily available tools with which to engage" as some critical part of the definition of senses, because it isn't.

Anyway, think about things like balance, the ability to perceive temperature, ability to feel pain etc. These things are happening, even if only at a subconscious level. You don't have to constantly balance yourself, you do it automatically and subconsciously.
 
I don't really know why you want to use "readily available tools with which to engage" as some critical part of the definition of senses, because it isn't.

Anyway, think about things like balance, the ability to perceive temperature, ability to feel pain etc. These things are happening, even if only at a subconscious level. You don't have to constantly balance yourself, you do it automatically and subconsciously.

You can go into manual mode, like picking your way though a Lego minefield.
 
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