this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (6 children)
[–] TheOctonaut@mander.xyz 99 points 1 year ago (3 children)

"Fahrenheit is how people feel" only makes sense if said people have never used another scale. You know how 100F "feels" because that's what you use. If you used Celsius you'd know how that scale feels instead, and be used to using the more useful scale generally.

See also: people who think they don't have an accent.

[–] ericbomb@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

100 f is pretty close to average body temperature.

So above 100 means your surroundings are hotter than your body is unless you have a fever.

I think that's an okay land mark.

[–] Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works 46 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have zero reference for how hot my body is because I don’t feel my ambient temperature.

What I do know is that I feel cold if it’s anything below 30, and I know other people feel hot if it’s above 20. So what people consider hot/cold must clearly be based on something more than the average body temperature

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[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And 0f is close to salted ice. good system, very human.

[–] then_three_more@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Today I learnt. So that makes a bit more sense. 100 standard body temperature, 0 your blood starts to freeze.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 6 points 1 year ago

If your body drops to room temperature, you’re already likely dead. If it freezes afterwards is only useful information if you’re preserving meat.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You know what? I just enjoy being able to set a thermostat to a comfortable level by just using whole numbers instead of resorting do decimal places.

[–] rainynight65@feddit.de 37 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If half a degree Celsius makes the difference between being comfortable or uncomfortable for you, then you have bigger problems than being able to use whole numbers.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Spoken like a pleb that has no control over their life. No thermostat control.

[–] rainynight65@feddit.de 8 points 1 year ago

The irony of someone not wanting to use decimal points for their temperature setting isn't lost on me, when that same person has to resort to fractions to measure anything thinner than a door.

[–] ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Europeans don’t have thermostats because they don’t have AC. You’re speaking elvish to them.

Edit: Relax Europeans, it’s a snarky comment

[–] CareHare@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you don't know what you're talking about, then yes, you might as well speak Elvish.

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[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 7 points 1 year ago

Put a temperature logger next to your thermostat and you’ll see it fluctuates 3 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit between the on off cycles. But your thermostat will make a great job fooling you.

[–] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

resorting to decimal places

Lmao I love Yanks, something cute about them

[–] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Notice how the tweet doesn’t say “all people”. Context is everywhere and everything.

[–] BruceTwarzen@kbin.social 45 points 1 year ago

Farenheit is how americans feel. Celsius is how normal people measure temperature. Better?

[–] TheOctonaut@mander.xyz 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Notice how the tweet doesn't say "American people". Accuracy is everything.

[–] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I fall to context again. The person writing is white and clueless enough not to be specific. Clearly. American.

Anyways. We are splitting hair over a silly tweet here.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 7 points 1 year ago

Apparently the brown Americans use Celsius.

[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 53 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Celcius is how I "feel", because that's the scale I've learned and can relate to.
Farenheit is what you "feel" for the same reason.

It's not because one is intrinsically better linked to our bodies.

[–] ech@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

You're missing the point. The scale is what matters, not your personal experience or unit preference. From 0-100 F is right about what a human could be expected to tolerate without much help. In C, that's -18-38. That's a much more limited range in terms of human tolerance, but it works great for water, which would be 0-100 C. The scale doesn't translate as well to K, but it does end at 0, so there's that.

[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 44 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yet people live in negative farenheit conditions.

Try telling a northern siberian, who commonly see winter temperatures between -50 and -100 fahrenheit, that 0f is right about the limit for a human to tolerate...

Exactly: or take folks who live in the tropics (about 40% of the human population) where it feels cold below 60F.

[–] ech@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You think those people go out without thick, warm clothes? I get you're really committed to arguing for C against people not even arguing against it, but come on now. You know what I'm saying. It's not a particularly difficult concept to grasp.

[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You wouldn't tolerate 0 farenheit in the nude either.
You wouldn't tolerate 10 farenheit for extended periods either.

I know what you are saying and I disagree. I am not trying to say celsius is better than farenheit, I'm saying farenheit is not in any way intrinsically more human than celsius.

0 farenheit was chosen because that's the temperature of salty ice, The lowest temperature they could easily achieve at the time, it has nothing to do with what humans can and can't endure.

[–] ech@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Whatever mate. I'm not here to argue you out of whatever tunnel your stuck in. Good luck with that.

[–] imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Exactly. And you're not even pointing out that the human frame of reference starts at -18 Celsius! So a significant portion of the time, you're going to have to use negative numbers to describe the temperature.

EditTo clarify, I am not arguing that Fahrenheit is a better scale in general. I'm simply saying that it's human-centric. Celsius is perfectly usable for human purposes, and also much more useful than Fahrenheit for scientific purposes. I'm just explaining how the meme makes sense to me

[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 28 points 1 year ago (9 children)

the human frame of reference starts at -18 Celsius!

That makes no sense to me at all. what frame of reference? what happens at -18? Ive been out in temperatures both above and below that, yes its cold as fuck, but nothing special happens? If we move a bit further north here they'd call me a wuss, and tell me real cold starts at -30.

you're going to have to use negative numbers to describe the temperature.

I find that really useful actually! Our world is made of water. In winter time here, temperatures above 0 means the snow will be soggy and wet, negative temperatures means it won't.

if the temperature was above 0 but has now dipped into the negatives, beware of ice when walking or driving.

You can use all the arguments you want, the truth is either system is perfectly useful for human day-to-day use if you are used to it.

The best system, for you, will always be the one you grew up with

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[–] ech@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

To be clear, I'm not saying people are wrong to use C. People can use any unit they want for all I care. I'm just clarifying the point of the main post.

[–] imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Totally, same. This thread was started by OPs reply

Nah, it doesn’t make any sense, and isn’t deep or insightful at all.

That was what triggered my response, otherwise I probably woulda just upvoted and kept scrolling.

[–] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

From 0-100 F is right about what a human could be expected to tolerate without much help.

The fuck does this mean

[–] EnderofGames@sh.itjust.works 45 points 1 year ago

"Kilometres is how cars drive. Feet is how people run"

This has the same level of nuance and thought behind it. It's just stupid.

[–] then_three_more@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago

It only works if you grew up in a country that uses Fahrenheit. I didn't, so to me Celsius is how I feel. I've no idea whether 20 f is jeans and a t-shirt weather, or if I should be getting my coat. 20 c however I know that as long as it's not windy I'll be good with jeans and a t-shirt, but that it's still a little too cool to get out my shorts.

[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You mean other than the fact only a tiny proportion of people in the world use Fahrenheit?

[–] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

It didn’t say which people. Also, I’m from South East Asia and have used Fahrenheit my entire life as a means to measure body temperature using mercury thermometers during fever time. It’s so much easier to say whether a fever is above 100 or not and then how much above 100.

So people do feel in Fahrenheit. A fuck ton of them do.

Yes, I know the meme is about the weather but… take a chill pill and look at your prejudices.

[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

take a chill pill

My guy, you asked what the flaw was...

[–] doingthestuff@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

It also closely matches the weather experience in many places. Where I live 0 F is about the coldest it ever gets and 100 F is about the hottest it ever gets. I know there are places that get a little hotter or colder, but we have humidity here which prevents it from getting hotter, and this region just doesn't get colder. It's a 0-100 scale of human experience.

[–] mlfh@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

5-ish percent isn't exactly tiny

[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's tiny enough to be an issue for the meme..

[–] theodewere@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you know your feelings are in Fahrenheit, you're not some metric machine

[–] Tier1BuildABear@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

America maybe?