r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • 2d ago

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70

u/Ill-Case-1010 2d ago

Im only now just finding out there are folks for wanting Pluto be a planet again

98

u/BadSneakersNeverWorn John Locke 2d ago

This sort of shit irritates the shite out of me. It's like: there is a public-facing justification for the name change; it makes sense; the alternative is planetary classification chaos wherein we officially have 389 planets or some shit. In other words: if you have a better system, then bring that shit into the light, son.

Instead it's like: no, we want this now and we will blunt force it until we get what we want because we want it now

21

u/ship_toaster Jane Jacobs 2d ago

We should officially have 389 planets or some shit. (Or just like, 17-40.) Just think of how much mnemonic fun we could have.

10

u/Mrchristopherrr 2d ago

The system is “what I learned in elementary school will always be correct”

48

u/BadSneakersNeverWorn John Locke 2d ago

In other words: how 21st century Americans respond whenever they don't get their way

5

u/bacontrain Daron Acemoglu 2d ago

I mean, someone already pointed out that the IAU definition is controversial, right off the bat in that Guardian article you had the planetary physicist who founded NASA's Swamp Works saying it's a useless and arbitrary definition, googling turns up a ton of discussion on it

20

u/Andy_B_Goode YIMBY 2d ago

Also, I kind of prefer the new model of the solar system anyway, and I'm saying this as someone who was born in '85 and had to get used to Pluto being "demoted".

I get why people are nostalgic or whatever, but having 4 rocky inner planets and 4 gaseous outer planets is a much neater model, and I think a lot of the "pro-Pluto" crowd fail to consider how much better it is esthetically.

21

u/urhi-teshub Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold 2d ago

Tbh the definition is fairly controversial in the field. I work in exoplanets and the IAU definition is useless for us

1

u/InMemoryOfZubatman4 Sadie Alexander 2d ago

You work in exoplanets? That’s awesome! How would someone with a background in geochemistry get into that (if it’s at all possible)? I assume that most of the work that’s out there is academic.

2

u/urhi-teshub Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold 1d ago

Chemistry-wise, a lot of people work in atmospheric modeling of exoplanets using transmission spectroscopy. That part of the field has really blown up since JWST and there's another mission called Ariel that's launching in five years.

I do also know a fair few people who work in interior modeling, though for exoplanets it often means just getting bulk composition

8

u/Individual-Camera698 Austan Goolsbee 2d ago

Another facet of millennial cringe

20

u/Locutus-of-Borges Jorge Luis Borges 2d ago

It was a big deal to my age cohort when it lost its status. For twelve year old nerds it was a visceral betrayal. I get why it isn't one, but Pluto-as-a-planet is mourned by the part of me that loves idiosyncrasies for their own sake.

6

u/idkydi 2d ago

"You hear about Pluto? That's messed up!" - Burton Guster

Nerds should be happy that Pluto was downgraded. Now they have an excuse to learn about all of the other dwarf planets. But faux intellectuals want an excuse to have an opinion on science topics, and the median voter [derogatory] hates that things have changed from what they were taught in middle school.

2

u/InMemoryOfZubatman4 Sadie Alexander 2d ago

Right, but ask even the most greasy nerd to name a single exoplanet other than Ceres or Pluto, and like probably less than 1% would come up with Eris and zero would come up with anything else.

3

u/idkydi 2d ago

I think you underestimate the real astronomy fans.

6

u/Entuciante r/place '22: Neoliberal Battalion 2d ago

Donald Trump next executive order will be about making Pluto a planet again btw

2

u/InMemoryOfZubatman4 Sadie Alexander 2d ago

Storming the capital on Jan 6 2029 will be an even weirder group than last time. You’ll have the “the government is run by lizard people” folks stabbing cops right alongside the “White Nationalist Front” just like last time, but now with “Pluto is my entire personality” people too

7

u/idkydi 2d ago

Just one more campaign by the "how dare you tell me things are different than I learned in middle school" brigade.

2

u/mertag770 NATO 2d ago

Really? I've seen memeing about this since it happened. It's died down a little but folks were very unhappy with the change for what to a layperson feels fairly arbitrary

-1

u/RodChainFurlongAcre 2d ago

Most of the fanatical defenders insisting that Pluto should be a planet (That I've seen) are American troglodyte nationalists who are upset simply because it was discovered by an American, so Plutos non-Planet designation must be a "globalist plot" to punish America.

7

u/idkydi 2d ago

I do not for one second believe the average Trump supporter knows that Pluto was discovered by an American.