Talks to Watch

Science is a liar...Sometimes, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia

3.4M views · Apr 22, 2013 · 4:15 · 0 HN recommenders · 5 mentions · discussed 2015–2021

A clip from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 8 in which a character argues that science is a liar and cannot be trusted.

Why Hacker News points people here: HN mostly uses it jokingly as a reference for anti-science or trust-your-own-research arguments rather than recommending it.

What Hacker News said 5

CriticalsmclJan 2021

“many of the arguments seem to boil down to conspiracy theories”

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Indeed there would. The naive estimate of deaths is bad enough, the knock on impact is a bit harder to wrap our heads around in terms of magnitude, but would still be severe. Basically - this is not nothing, it’s being treated like a Big Deal because it legitimately is. There’s a lot of talk from the “treatment is worse than the disease” crowd, scant few of whom are experts. And like climate change and evolution deniers many of the arguments seem to boil down to conspiracy theories or the It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia argument - “science is a liar ... sometimes”: this video

in “London will be overwhelmed by Covid in a fortnight says leaked NHS briefing” · view on HN
JokesmclAug 2015

“is a plot point in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia”

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Interestingly the first sentence of your second paragraph is a plot point in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ("Science is a liar ... sometimes") : this video

in “Dinosaur Feathers Found in Amber Reinforce Evolution Theories (2011)” · view on HN
JokepfischDec 2017

“Pretty much all scientists have been proven wrong so far in significant ways.”

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"Our understanding of physics is very wrong" - this seems very likely to me. Pretty much all scientists have been proven wrong so far in significant ways. The entire structure of the universe makes no sense without tons of dark matter and dark energy we can't observe, which sounds a lot like the way we used to balance the equations of orbits so the earth was the center of the galaxy. this video 2. I think this alleges a pretty large conspiracy theory on the order of 9/11 being faked. There is a wide body of evidence from a lot of reputable witnesses of unexplained phenomena. The idea that the military fabricated that video and the pilots who are the witnesses is more ridiculous to me than "Our understanding of physics is very wrong"

in “The Hunt for Aliens Is a Grassroots Movement Funded by Billionaires” · view on HN
JokebyproxyJan 2019

“I feel like it's a less-crude version of Mac's argument”

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I've just read one ( link ) and it was less than convincing. In fact, I feel like it's a less-crude version of Mac's argument ( this video ).

in “Sobriety startups shaking up the 12-step model” · view on HN
JokeswebsApr 2019

“blindly trusting authority rather than doing your own research.”

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He was an ethics professor. I bet a good amount of money that the point he was making pertained to blindly trusting authority rather than doing your own research. Or in other words: this video

in “The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Ed” · view on HN