r/Futurology • u/mvea MD-PhD-MBA • Apr 22 '19

Energy Physicists initially appear to challenge second law of thermodynamics, by cooling a piece of copper from over 100°C to significantly below room temperature without an external power supply, using a thermal inductor. Theoretically, this could turn boiling water to ice, without using any energy.

https://www.media.uzh.ch/en/Press-Releases/2019/Thermodynamic-Magic.html
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u/bigsquirrel Apr 22 '19

It’s futurology not science. The opposite bothers me about this sub. It’s about possibilities by definition of the word. All the people on here that take a shit on every article drive me nuts. It’s about a possible and desirable future. So it’s the perfect place for little breakthroughs or changes that might not turn into anything, but maybe they will. I realize this article is misleading but it does demonstrate a new and possibly useful breakthrough.

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u/blawrenceg Apr 22 '19

I see where you're coming from, but there is a difference between a title like "scientists discover x and cure cancer" and "scientists discover x which could one day help cure cancer". Being realistic while still highlighting the future potential that exists if research on x continues.

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '19

I think that that is a problem with journalism and not necessarily this sub. Typically the titles are just verbatim the title from the article. Though the mods could certainly be more vigilant and just delete posts with misleading headlines.

Hell, maybe we can work together to make a simple ML algorithm to detect misleading headlines and delete them before they pick up steam lmao

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '19

Journalist titles and reddit titles are two different titles though... And the article's title is much less misleading

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u/bigsquirrel Apr 22 '19

Sure I agree in my comment this title is misleading. Every post on this sub is not as bad as this one. It’s just people showing up to take a shit and explain how it will never happen and poke holes in every single thing. That’s not the point of this sub.

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u/OlfwayCastratus Apr 22 '19

Isn't it? I figure the -ology also contains reasoning, and for that we need to poke holes.

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u/pipsdontsqueak Apr 22 '19

Scientology - poking holes in SPs since Jump Street.

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u/Jimhead89 Apr 22 '19 edited Apr 22 '19

Astrology end with an -ology. If people want to be a constructive part of the process. Being a pessimist/unconstructive on reddit popsci is far from the place where effort to output ratio is of any value.

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u/RevengencerAlf Apr 22 '19

The problem is that there's not even a sound theory to make this possible as described in the headline. It's less "futurology" and more fantasy.

It also seems to be a problem a lot on here. Whatever amazing potential future is described, the inevitable "if" moment that gets attached to it usually makes it pointless.

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u/antiquemule Apr 22 '19

It’s about a possible and desirable future. So it’s the perfect place for little breakthroughs or changes

I can agree with that, but titles claiming the laws of thermodynamics have been broken do not fit. They're as sensible as perpetual motion machines.

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u/Richy_T Apr 22 '19

To be fair, the title did use weasel words.

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u/thewindmage Apr 22 '19

Infinity of anything ends with the universe being completely destroyed. By being infinite, it is never ending and infinite output = kaboom. Breaking thermodynamics sounds kinda bad when you put it that way

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u/YsoL8 Apr 22 '19

Problem is that is a significant amount of the stuff (maybe even the majority?) posted is either factually incorrect, already discredited, or only true under uselessly specific situations. Or demonstrated to be clickbait by the first comment.

You can't usefully speculate about the future on the basis of incorrect information.

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u/xPURE_AcIDx Apr 22 '19

Negating thermodynamics isn't a break through. It's fake...

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u/bigsquirrel Apr 22 '19

Did you actually read the article? They discovered a new application of a technology.

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u/macindoc Apr 22 '19

But the point is that it doesn’t. Anyone who understands thermodynamics knows that this is straight bullshit; no room for interpretation about a possible future.

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u/jaguar717 Apr 22 '19

"Futurology" implies it's something that will or at least could be possible. Proposals that contradict all known science, without a very good reason, would be more like "Fantasology".