Hubris Memes

Posts tagged with Hubris

Checkmate Before Learning To Move
Physics Science Academia Math
5 days ago 15.0K views 0 shares
Checkmate Before Learning To Move
The chess metaphor is painfully accurate. Fresh high school grads confidently discussing quantum physics and string theory after watching two YouTube videos, while completely skipping the foundational math and physics that scientists spent centuries developing. It's like trying to play chess without knowing how the pieces move. "Yes, please tell me more about Schrödinger's Cat while you struggle with basic derivatives." The Dunning-Kruger effect in its natural habitat—where the less you know, the more certain you are that black holes are just "space vacuums." Meanwhile, actual physicists are still grinding through the boring fundamentals decades into their careers.

The Quantum Train Wreck
Physics Scientists Science Research
24 days ago 5.6K views 0 shares
The Quantum Train Wreck
Lord Kelvin declared physics was basically finished in 1900, and then Einstein, Bohr, Schrödinger, and Planck promptly rolled up like a quantum wrecking crew. It's like saying "the library is complete" right before someone invents the internet. Kelvin's "nothing new to discover" statement might be the greatest scientific face-plant in history—right up there with "heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible" and "I'll never need more than 640K of RAM." The quantum revolution wasn't just coming—it was already honking its horn at the intersection.

Time Travelers And The Dunning-Kruger Effect
Tech Physics Science
26 days ago 7.3K views 0 shares
Time Travelers And The Dunning-Kruger Effect
Time travel fantasy, meet reality check! That smug "I could go back in time to show people how smart I am" thought crashes spectacularly when you realize you'd be absolutely clueless explaining modern tech to ancient folks. Sure, you know electricity powers your phone, but could you actually explain how electrons flow through conductors or build a simple circuit from scratch? The confused cat's "Idk" is literally all of us pretending we understand the technology we use daily. Next time you feel intellectually superior to historical figures, remember you'd be that cat in ancient Rome, completely unable to explain the "magic rectangle" that shows cat videos.

The Mathematical Hierarchy Of Pain
Math Academia
1 month ago 5.0K views 0 shares
The Mathematical Hierarchy Of Pain
The mathematical hierarchy of pain, illustrated perfectly. High school math champions get obliterated by undergraduate Analysis, only to watch that same Analysis become the puny sidekick to the eldritch horror known as Measure Theory. Nothing humbles a mathematics student quite like discovering there are seven levels of mathematical hell beyond what broke your spirit last semester. The progression from "I'm so smart" to "I understand nothing" is basically the universal mathematical experience.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect In Scientific Discourse
Physics Science Scientists Academia
1 month ago 7.9K views 0 shares
The Dunning-Kruger Effect In Scientific Discourse
The Feynman quote about preferring unanswerable questions to unquestionable answers was meant to encourage scientific curiosity and skepticism. Then the internet happened. Now we've got armchair physicists who watched two pop-science YouTube videos declaring themselves the next Nobel laureate while completely missing the point. Nothing says "I understand quantum mechanics" like aggressively misinterpreting one of its greatest teachers and then refusing to study the actual math. The superiority complex is just *chef's kiss* perfect. I've seen undergrads with the same energy try to correct tenured professors. It never ends well.

The Engineering Expectation Gap
Engineering Tech Research Science
2 months ago 6.3K views 0 shares
The Engineering Expectation Gap
Every engineering project ever summed up in one banner! That inspirational quote twist is the unofficial motto of countless research labs and engineering workshops worldwide. You start with grand visions of building something revolutionary—like Mark Rober's puzzle-solving robot—convinced it'll be a straightforward application of principles you've mastered. Fast forward three months: you're debugging code at 3 AM, surrounded by empty coffee cups, wondering why that "simple" servo motor refuses to cooperate with basic physics. The journey from "this should be easy" to "why did I ever think this would be easy?" is practically the scientific method's evil twin.

Stay Humble: The Asteroid Doesn't Check Your Resume
Evolution Earth-science Astronomy Biology
2 months ago 8.9K views 0 shares
Stay Humble: The Asteroid Doesn't Check Your Resume
Cosmic reality check! Dinosaurs ruled Earth for 165 million years before a 6-mile-wide space rock said "nope." Meanwhile, humans have been strutting around for ~300,000 years thinking we're special? The Stegosaurus probably had morning coffee plans for the day after extinction. Nature doesn't care about your LinkedIn profile or how many followers you have—we're all just temporarily successful species on a rock hurtling through space.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect In Scientific Discourse
Scientists Science Academia
2 months ago 5.5K views 0 shares
The Dunning-Kruger Effect In Scientific Discourse
Nothing captures the Dunning-Kruger effect quite like this! The science enthusiast confidently dismisses religion with absolute certainty, while the actual scientist—who lives in the trenches of uncertainty—gives a hesitant "...Yes?" Real scientists understand that falsifiability is the cornerstone of scientific thinking, and the existence of a deity sits firmly outside empirical testing. The working scientist knows the humbling truth: the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know. Meanwhile, the "fan" is busy constructing a fedora out of their Scientific American subscription.

The Engineering Confidence Curve
Engineering Academia Physics Math Tech
2 months ago 10.3K views 0 shares
The Engineering Confidence Curve
The classic engineering student evolution! First year you're scoffing at simple projectile motion problems thinking "I'm too good for computers." Fast forward to final year and you're on your knees begging Simulink to cooperate while staring at control system diagrams that look like someone sneezed circuit symbols onto paper. Nothing humbles an engineering student faster than differential equations and transfer functions. The confidence-to-complexity curve is basically free fall with no parachute!

People Vs Collatz Conjecture
Math Academia Science
3 months ago 7.0K views 0 shares
People Vs Collatz Conjecture
Behold, the duality of mathematical obsession. On one side, the seasoned mathematicians weeping over the unsolvable Collatz Conjecture. On the other, the blissfully naive student with a calculator who thinks they'll crack it between lunch and fifth period. For the uninitiated, the Collatz Conjecture is that mathematical black hole where you take any positive integer, apply a simple rule (if even, divide by 2; if odd, multiply by 3 and add 1), and supposedly always end up at 1. Proven for millions of numbers but never universally. Nothing quite captures mathematical hubris like thinking you'll solve what's stumped professionals for 85 years with a TI-84 and half a Mountain Dew.

Which One Of Ye Shall Doeth It?
Engineering Climate Science
3 months ago 7.6K views 0 shares
Which One Of Ye Shall Doeth It?
Engineers staring at hurricanes like they're untapped power plants is peak human ambition. Sure, a hurricane packs enough energy to power the world for a week—just minor details like "catastrophic destruction" and "complete inability to harness chaotic wind energy" standing in the way. The gap between theoretical energy and practical application is where engineering dreams go to drown... usually in hurricane floodwaters. Somewhere right now, a grad student is writing a dissertation titled "Hurricane Energy Capture: Technically Possible, Practically Insane."

The New King Of Continued Fractions
Math Science
3 months ago 6.8K views 0 shares
The New King Of Continued Fractions
The mathematical hubris is strong with this one! Our brave tweeter thinks they're dethroning Ramanujan (only one of the greatest mathematical minds in history) by... writing out the continued fraction for π using the digits of π itself. It's like saying you've mastered French because you can say "bonjour." The "(1/n)" is the chef's kiss—suggesting this mathematical "breakthrough" is just part 1 of a thread that nobody asked for. Next up: discovering that water is wet and gravity pulls things down.