{"id":341,"date":"2006-06-22T13:51:20","date_gmt":"2006-06-22T13:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/principles\/2006\/06\/22\/ask-a-scienceblogger-cartoon-e\/"},"modified":"2006-06-22T13:51:20","modified_gmt":"2006-06-22T13:51:20","slug":"ask-a-scienceblogger-cartoon-e","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/2006\/06\/22\/ask-a-scienceblogger-cartoon-e\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask a ScienceBlogger: Cartoon Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

OK, it’s not an official Ask a ScienceBlogger question (that answer will show up next week), but over at the World’s Fair, they’ve raised an important scholarly question<\/a> via a scene from The Simpsons<\/cite>:<\/p>\n

\n

Marge: Homer?
\nHomer: Yelloh?
\nMarge: There’s a man here who thinks he can help you.
\nHomer: Batman?
\nMarge: No, he’s a scientist.
\nHomer: Batman’s a scientist.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Obviously, this leads to the question : “What sort of scientist is Batman, anyway?” Some of my colleagues are trying to claim him for psychology<\/a> or genetics<\/a>, but the real answer is after the cut:<\/p>\n

\"i-bc34b702798f01b10409f7481ac9dc21-link_donorschoose_small.gif\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It’s a trick question. Batman isn’t a scientist, he’s an engineer.<\/p>\n

I mean, think about it: scientists are about the pursuit of knowledge in the abstract. While their work may lead to future technological applications, they’re usually not involved in actually making<\/strong> those devices. Scientists are about proof-of-principle work, and pushing the boundaries of knowledge. Typical scientific apparatus involves duct tape and aluminum foil, and requires a Ph.D. and a couple of graduate students to keep it running.<\/p>\n

That’s not what Batman is about. Batman isn’t interested in abstract knowledge– he’s interested in the application<\/strong> of knowledge, preferably at high speed and to the head of a villain. That’s engineering, not science. Batman’s all about the wonderful toys, crime-fighting gadgets that work flawlessly in field conditions. You don’t go to a scientist for that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

Of course, the scientific discipline that most readily leads to a career in engineering is physics…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OK, it’s not an official Ask a ScienceBlogger question (that answer will show up next week), but over at the World’s Fair, they’ve raised an important scholarly question via a scene from The Simpsons: Marge: Homer? Homer: Yelloh? Marge: There’s a man here who thinks he can help you. Homer: Batman? Marge: No, he’s a… Continue reading Ask a ScienceBlogger: Cartoon Edition<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,7,37,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask_a_scienceblogger","category-physics","category-pop_culture","category-silliness","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}