Science Squabbling

Nine?!

...

Oops, I meant six:

Mather is in box 1.

Six scenarios, with comments:

i) You pick 1, host opens 2. You should not change.
ii) You pick 1, host opens 3. You should not change.
iii) You pick 2, host opens 1. Will not happen.
iv) You pick 2, host opens 3. You should change.
v) You pick 3, host opens 1. Will not happen.
vi) You pick 3, host opens 2. You should change.

So, it appears that there are two scenarios in which you should change and two in which you should not, ergo it doesn't matter, right?

Not quite. Scenario's i) and ii) offer the host a choice of which box to show you. Therefore over a series of such events, i) will occur half the time and ii) will occur half the time. contrast this with iv) and vi). Given your choice of box, the host has no choice about which box to show you. So over a series of events of you picking box 2, scenario iv) will always happen. Similarly for you picking box 3 and scenario vi).

Because of the argument above, you need to weight scenarios iv) and vi) as twice as significant as scenarios i) and ii). Ergo, you should change.

A more formal way of making the above argument is to draw out eighteen scenarios, each equally likely - basically the six above, but times 3 for changing the box that the Mather is in.

Drawing a probability tree helps as well, but my ASCII art is not up to it.

what if you want the unipac ?

Then you should throw up on the host's cock and leg it with the booty.

I don;t think I understand why the host gets to choose the boxes, but I'm quite excited that my (wrong) idea to use probability (3 factorial [3x2x1], assuming the game was like three-card Monte, with n independent events) still produces the correct answer of 6, go me.

Because the host will always show you a unipac. If you have chosen a box with a unipac in, then the host has only one remaining that he can show you. If you have chosen the Mater, he has a choice of two boxes to show you.

...If you have chosen the Mater....

oedipally complex

oedipally complex

Ha, I noticed that and considered editing. Should have done...

..so no one answered, how do magnets work?

i'd also like to know. but i don't wanna hear from any scientists lyin' and getting me pissed.

..so no one answered, how do magnets work?

Gravity...

they've found it
gravity located and they've got photo's of it http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8767763.stm
LOOK

and as far as i can see the indians have been stealing it

either that or the icelanders and the aussies have been stealing it

Papua New Guinea.

hmm and what would headhunters want with all that gravity ?

Anyone know anything about biomimicry/biomimetics?
Allegedly writing a not very original story on it and looking for people to interview.

as in mullerian mimicry?

not a lot but i could maybe put you in touch with some other sciencey types that might.

as in mullerian mimicry?

not a lot but i could maybe put you in touch with some other sciencey types that might.

Not Müllerian, though a quick google reveals that's also pretty cool.

More the kind of mimicry by humans of natural design in order to solve human problems.

E.g:
Fiber manufacture inspired by golden orb weaver spiders
Using Enzymes found in leeches for treating patients with heart problems.
Architectural design inspired by eusocial insect dwellings like termite mounds.
Vaccines without refrigeration emulating the resurrection plant

It's for a business news programme if that puts it into perspective at all?

I have a friend that is made of biomimetic poly-metal alloy.

Not Müllerian, though a quick google reveals that's also pretty cool.

More the kind of mimicry by humans of natural design in order to solve human problems.
E.g:
Fiber manufacture inspired by golden orb weaver spiders
Using Enzymes found in leeches for treating patients with heart problems.
Architectural design inspired by eusocial insect dwellings like termite mounds.
Vaccines without refrigeration emulating the resurrection plant
It's for a business news programme if that puts it into perspective at all?

i know a bit about a bit, is it expert advice, people doing the work or some help in understanding it all?

i've got a PhD in molecular biology and i don't use it so much nowadays.
pm?

ah i see, "looking for people to interview".

have you tried the london biotechnology network?

Who knows if this is a relevant thread for this, but:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo#t=57m32s

Who knows if this is a relevant thread for this, but:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo#t=57m32s

I watched a few more of the vids from that atheist alliance international conference. Seems to me that the creationists are an easy target if they keep arguing for intelligent design of things like whales and elephants etc. if they just changed their standpoint slightly I think they would have a lot more luck. Why not argue that the first 'life' from which we all evolved was designed?

who designed the designer?

Dunno, but I've just seen your response on people to interview.

I pissed off on holdiay as I didn't really get anywhere at the time but have now been asked if I'm still doing the story above (biomimicry).
So the question still stands, anyone know anything, anyone in the field - for example, if one of you happens to be Janine Benyus and you happened to be in the UK within the next month, would be well up for filming you : )

Damo, have checked out LondonBiotechNetwork/OneNucleus and they look an interesting bunch, particularly their funding and sponsorship which would be relevant to the particular programme I work on.

Looking mainly for cool specific tech/bio examples that I can go and see/film - shit like this: http://brainz.org/15-coolest-cases-biomimicry/

Have been looking at Bath University as potentially a key place, also Reading has some interesting research going on. Any more?

who designed the designer?

don't they argue that the designer has always existed? which is along the same lines as arguing that the components required for a universe have always existed? I'm not trying to argue for creationists but they could make their story more believable.