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Science Memes
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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- Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
- Keep it rooted (on topic).
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- Infographics welcome, get schooled.
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 or how.
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.
We moderate for vibe, not category. Pruning is light, especially where a post creates interesting discussion. Experimenting is encouraged.
See the pinned paper on Shitposting as Public Pedagogy if you want the academic case for why this works.
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Yeah you know what would actually be better? Fixing legislation so that the 100 companies that create the majority of pollution stop doing that
Lmmfao, yeah good luck with that.. (hint: the people who own those companies also own the government who makes the laws, there is no reforming capitalism, it's designed that way)
I don't disagree with this but the offered alternative is checks notes GENOCIDE
They own the people in government, not the government itself. Change the people, change the ownership.
The trick is you have to start small, cause the ones in the bigger positions rely on the small ones to maintain their power.
The problem is that to obtain those big pistons, you need the financial backing of those big companies. So eventually as an honest politician climbs the ladder, he has to sell out, or fizzle out. You can't win federal elections without PAC money.
Until you hit critical mass on those small politicians, and they change the playing field. The problem is seeing them only as stepping stones on the way to greatness, and not as a power in their own right.
Even better than that is changing the system so the 100 companies are no longer around to create a majority of pollution.
The statistic that "Just 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissions" is better understood as "Just 100 companies responsible for selling 71% of global fossil fuels". It's fundamentally saying that there's a few large coal, oil and gas companies worldwide selling us most of the supply.
If you want those companies to stop polluting, that amounts to those companies not selling fossil fuels.
Which is honestly the goal, but the only way to do that is to replace the demand for fossil fuels. Cutting the US off from fossil fuels would kill a ton of people if you didn't first make an energy grid 100% powered by renewables, got people to buy electric cars, cold climate heat pumps, etc.
That's true! But I think more than one "front" can be open in this battle. And we also need the ones that can be won quicker or easier. Or at least start those too.
How do you think we could stop the pollution from those companies (most of which are oil producers) without also directly impacting normal people? There's no way of getting at the structural that avoids individual change.
Individuals should change. We absolutely do not need the majority of products, and can still keep the modern conveniences without all the excess and waste.