This (arguably unhelpful) phrase seems to be taught across schools all over the world. What are some other phrases like this that are common ?

  • Donjuanme@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    3 months ago

    In biology mitochondria are not essential, hydrocarbons are. Life sprung up without mitochondria, but it wouldn’t be what it is without them. Chemistry is fundamental to biology, mitochondria aren’t, but I think you’d agree physics wouldn’t be what it is today without mass, nor would biology be without the mitochondria

    • wuphysics87@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      Depends what you mean by “what it is today.”. Mass isn’t fundamental. It is a particle’s coupling to the Higgs Boson which generates mass. The Lagrangian of the Standard Model is an energy equation. Not a mass one.

      • Donjuanme@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        3 months ago

        Do you watch a lot of v-sauce? There’s a certain argumentative style that he instills in his audience that I’m picking up when reading your comments. There’s a lot of nuance and acceptability outside of the strict definitions that goes into the scientific process (as much as strict adherents don’t like it, science is done when we close those gaps, it isn’t immediate nor absolute)