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  • xkcd: The Last Molecule

    From Lynn McGuire@21:1/5 to All on Thu Dec 9 13:29:04 2021
    XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

    xkcd: The Last Molecule
    https://xkcd.com/2552/

    Nope, chemistry is not complete and is not even close to being complete.
    My business partner estimated that we had 2% of interactions between hydrocarbons mapped out. He had a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Rice University and taught at the University of Oklahoma for over a decade.

    Explained at:
    https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2552:_The_Last_Molecule

    Lynn

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  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to lynnmcguire5@gmail.com on Fri Dec 10 09:52:33 2021
    XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

    On Thu, 9 Dec 2021 13:29:04 -0600, Lynn McGuire
    <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    xkcd: The Last Molecule
    https://xkcd.com/2552/

    Nope, chemistry is not complete and is not even close to being complete.
    My business partner estimated that we had 2% of interactions between
    hydrocarbons mapped out. He had a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Rice >University and taught at the University of Oklahoma for over a decade.

    I have my doubts about Physics and Biology as well.

    Physics might /never/ be complete -- it might actually /be/ "turtles
    all the way down" -- that is, just as once atoms were thought to be
    indivisible but are not, who is to say that quarks won't, someday, be
    seen as made up of parts? And those parts of parts? And so on ...
    forever?

    Biology is woefully incomplete. It hasn't even finished /identifying/
    all its subjects, never mind figuring out what's going on. OTOH, m-RNA
    based viruses show that it has made /some/ progress.

    Explained at:
    https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2552:_The_Last_Molecule
    --
    "I begin to envy Petronius."
    "I have envied him long since."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John W Kennedy@21:1/5 to Paul S Person on Fri Dec 10 17:25:11 2021
    XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

    On 12/10/21 12:52 PM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Thu, 9 Dec 2021 13:29:04 -0600, Lynn McGuire
    <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    xkcd: The Last Molecule
    https://xkcd.com/2552/

    Nope, chemistry is not complete and is not even close to being complete.
    My business partner estimated that we had 2% of interactions between
    hydrocarbons mapped out. He had a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Rice
    University and taught at the University of Oklahoma for over a decade.

    I have my doubts about Physics and Biology as well.

    Physics might /never/ be complete -- it might actually /be/ "turtles
    all the way down" -- that is, just as once atoms were thought to be indivisible but are not, who is to say that quarks won't, someday, be
    seen as made up of parts? And those parts of parts? And so on ...
    forever?

    Biology is woefully incomplete. It hasn't even finished /identifying/
    all its subjects, never mind figuring out what's going on. OTOH, m-RNA
    based viruses show that it has made /some/ progress.

    Explained at:
    https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2552:_The_Last_Molecule

    If I recall aright, some high-ranking scientist in late Victorian times
    did pronounce that science would be complete as soon as someone got
    around to discovering the poles.

    --
    John W. Kennedy
    Algernon Burbage, Lord Roderick, Father Martin, Bishop Baldwin,
    King Pellinore, Captain Bailey, Merlin -- A Kingdom for a Stage!

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to john.w.kennedy@gmail.com on Sat Dec 11 09:40:32 2021
    XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

    On Fri, 10 Dec 2021 17:25:11 -0500, John W Kennedy
    <john.w.kennedy@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 12/10/21 12:52 PM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Thu, 9 Dec 2021 13:29:04 -0600, Lynn McGuire
    <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    xkcd: The Last Molecule
    https://xkcd.com/2552/

    Nope, chemistry is not complete and is not even close to being complete. >>> My business partner estimated that we had 2% of interactions between
    hydrocarbons mapped out. He had a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Rice >>> University and taught at the University of Oklahoma for over a decade.

    I have my doubts about Physics and Biology as well.

    Physics might /never/ be complete -- it might actually /be/ "turtles
    all the way down" -- that is, just as once atoms were thought to be
    indivisible but are not, who is to say that quarks won't, someday, be
    seen as made up of parts? And those parts of parts? And so on ...
    forever?

    Biology is woefully incomplete. It hasn't even finished /identifying/
    all its subjects, never mind figuring out what's going on. OTOH, m-RNA
    based viruses show that it has made /some/ progress.

    Explained at:
    https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2552:_The_Last_Molecule

    If I recall aright, some high-ranking scientist in late Victorian times
    did pronounce that science would be complete as soon as someone got
    around to discovering the poles.

    When I was reading the books in the set named /The Great Books of the
    Western World/, the early scientific writings tended to claim that
    soon everything would be known and so be "perfect".

    But they were thinking of a Newtonian clock-work universe, purely
    mechanical and 100% predicatable (if we only knew enough) -- and by "predictable" they did /not/ mean "statistically".

    Reality, however, has turned out to be much much much more
    complicated.
    --
    "I begin to envy Petronius."
    "I have envied him long since."

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)