So I've made no secret of my disdain for Mythbusters' refusal to confirm anything, ever. They operate claiming a passion for science, yet they create experiments designed to 'test' 'myths' without offering any concrete criteria for what success would look like, and then refusing to name it as such even when they prove it beyond any reasonable doubt.
This is mostly to their pro-busting agenda - the show isn't called 'myth-confirmers', after all. The whole idea is to pull back a veil of misinformation and reveal truth - there's nothing inherently wrong with that. At times, however, it becomes clear that the show is prioritizing an arrival at this end to the point that they're ignoring evidence placed right in their faces.
Now that Mythbusters is in its last season, we've almost run out of chances for them to finally, at long last, confirm something again, which is what makes it such a disappointment to see them botch an opportunity to do so in this latest episode.
The myth in question revolved around an intriguing idea - can you take a tomatoe, shrink-wrap it in a bag, drop it in some water, then set of a blasting cap next to it, liquifying the interior without breaking the skin? An internet video suggested that this was possible with the following images-
The explosion and tomatoe in question.
The innards of that tomatoe being sucked through a straw.
So the Mythbusters have a clear set of parameters to attempt to replicate - the size of the tank, the explosive used, and the distance the tomatoe should be from the blasting cap. Perfect replicable scientific experiment. So, what were the results?
Explosion, Mythbusters style.
Mythbusters drinking tomatoe innards through a straw, exactly like the people in the video did.
The Mythbusters didn't stop there - they detonated the blasting caps closer and closer to see if the innards would get even more liquid without breaking the skin-
And it worked! They managed to shock the innards to the point that a full third of the tomatoe's weight could be drained out with a weak vacuum. So by any standard you want to apply, the video they were testing was 100% accurate. And what did the Mythbusters call it?
Christ, Mythbusters. Just... Christ.
Look, I'm sure you may have perfectly good reasons for this kind of wanton dishonesty - but having a good reason to lie doesn't make it the truth. Maybe you don't 'Confirm' things any more because an insurance executive told you that it was encouraging people to try it for themselves? I can't say, but by removing it from your lexicon, you've also removed our ability to take you in any way seriously.
This is mostly to their pro-busting agenda - the show isn't called 'myth-confirmers', after all. The whole idea is to pull back a veil of misinformation and reveal truth - there's nothing inherently wrong with that. At times, however, it becomes clear that the show is prioritizing an arrival at this end to the point that they're ignoring evidence placed right in their faces.
Now that Mythbusters is in its last season, we've almost run out of chances for them to finally, at long last, confirm something again, which is what makes it such a disappointment to see them botch an opportunity to do so in this latest episode.
The myth in question revolved around an intriguing idea - can you take a tomatoe, shrink-wrap it in a bag, drop it in some water, then set of a blasting cap next to it, liquifying the interior without breaking the skin? An internet video suggested that this was possible with the following images-
The explosion and tomatoe in question.
The innards of that tomatoe being sucked through a straw.
So the Mythbusters have a clear set of parameters to attempt to replicate - the size of the tank, the explosive used, and the distance the tomatoe should be from the blasting cap. Perfect replicable scientific experiment. So, what were the results?
Explosion, Mythbusters style.
Mythbusters drinking tomatoe innards through a straw, exactly like the people in the video did.
The Mythbusters didn't stop there - they detonated the blasting caps closer and closer to see if the innards would get even more liquid without breaking the skin-
And it worked! They managed to shock the innards to the point that a full third of the tomatoe's weight could be drained out with a weak vacuum. So by any standard you want to apply, the video they were testing was 100% accurate. And what did the Mythbusters call it?
Christ, Mythbusters. Just... Christ.
Look, I'm sure you may have perfectly good reasons for this kind of wanton dishonesty - but having a good reason to lie doesn't make it the truth. Maybe you don't 'Confirm' things any more because an insurance executive told you that it was encouraging people to try it for themselves? I can't say, but by removing it from your lexicon, you've also removed our ability to take you in any way seriously.
No comments:
Post a Comment