Why people gotta hate on a movie three decades old that remains perfect?
Gotta meme to keep it alive
Is his PhD in Electrical Engineering?
Hey it’s a “It’s a UNIX system” movie, isn’t it?
Did you know the weird 3d file system navigation thingy was a real program (just not widely used)?
But I can’t get over the way she held the mouse lol
The funny thing about that quote is that it really was a Unix system that was shown on screen.
Well, I have an EE Degree specialized in Digital Systems - pretty much the opposite side of Electronic Engineering from the High Power side - and I would be almost as clueless as that guy when it comes to testing a 10,000V fence for power.
On the other hand I do know a lot of interesting things about CPU design ;)
He must have skipped all of the Electrical Engineering classes in his Paleontology program.
He is already standing too close and that stick would arc with that many volts flowing through it. The most likely outcome in reality if it had been energized. The arc would have jumped from the stick to him and no more New Zealand guy.
As someone who has worked with academics, the more specialised the person, the less common sense they seem to hold onto.
As such, if this was outside their PhD specialisation, then it’d absolutely make sense that this wouldn’t occur to them.
My professor (computer science - NP complete problems specific) had a theory.
Higher up your education, more and more you learn about less and less.
I am convinced he accidentally stumbled across Buddhism all on his own (he was a religious Christian, the generous, do not judge others kind). Because Buddha seems to have done his PhD in nothing. Even “wrote” the whole dissertation on nothingness.
My university basically gave up with a couple of professors. They hired a personal assistant, full time, just to try and keep them organised. They apparently settled on 3 phone calls, to make sure they made lectures on time. It even extended to things like reminding them to actually get their wives birthday presents, and personal book keeping.
It seems the human brain has a capacity limit. The more specialist knowledge shoved in, the less room for more normal knowledge. Eventually it displaces even the most basic common sense.
I’d like to report that the more specialized a medical doctor is, the less common sense they have.
Had a doctor chew me out because he couldn’t be bothered to simply turn the computer on.
That was the issue. Pushing a button was beneath him. Cool man, I’m the only one here at this hour and the phones have to be manned constantly. That ticket can go to another department and wait until they come in morning.
Also, low priority and I noted that the doctor refused to simply turn it on.
I think that ticket sat there for over a month.
At least he’s smart enough to know you Don’t whizz on the electric fence
I never thought about that. Lol.
At 10kV, a random stick would be all it takes to start an arc. He knows what he’s doing.
I’m genuinelly curious were you got that from.
I actually went and checked the minimum air gap to avoid arcing at 10,000V at standard sea level air pressure and it’s actually measured in millimeters.
Further, is the voltage differential there between parallel conducting lines or is it between the lines and the ground?
I’m really having trouble seing how a dry stick would cause arcing between two of those lines short of bringing them nearer than 4 mm in the first case, much less between one of the lines and the ground in the second case if its being held at chest level.
PS: Mind you, it does make sense with a stick which is not dry - since the water in it makes it conductive - but then the guy himself would be part of the conductive circuit, which kinda defeats the point of using a stick.
True, True… Hay who thought it was safe to run 10,000V Wire through a flammable overgrown jungle?
The people who wouldn’t cry about a dino BBQ scenario.
I invite you to touch an electric fence with a stick then.
i’m not touching your stick man, gross!
You’re describing my pre-internet childhood.
(It wasn’t a 10k volt t-rex fence though)
With your stick?
Yeah that’s people with PhDs in my experience
Yeah, in this case it’s so high voltage that the resistance of the dry stick wont mean as much.
I don’t remember the scene, but personally I’d test an electric fence with a nonconductor. You’ll probably get some sparks but won’t die. You do you, ppl in this thread.
As a PhD who has tried doing home improvement projects, it’s the most believable thing in the film.
Some pleeb shouted at me, “I thought you were an engineer!” And I shouted back, “A software engineer!” while I hammer a nail with my shoe.
Ah, a C programmer.
I’m a regular engineer and yeah I pull such shit. Listen, there’s a reason I tell everyone not to do what I do.
The difference between a regular idiot doing a dangerous job and an engineer doing a dangerous job is the engineer knows which parts of the job he’s risking imminent death on. There may often be no other difference.
When it comes to an engineer doing a dangerous job in a domain other than his or her own, I would say that all the engineer knows is how bad things can be fucked up when one is trying to do expert stuff outside one’s own domain, because they’ve been in a position were they were the experts and some non-expert was saying things and trying stuff for their expert domain.
After seeing others do it in one’s own expert domain one generally realizes that “maybe, just maybe, that’s exactly how I look outside my domain of expertise to the experts of that domain when I open my big fat mouth”.
Actually some of the most naïve people I’ve ever met were theretofore academically successful.
My fiancee has a couple degrees while I just graduated high school. She’s incredibly smart but I’m definitely more street savvy. She grew up a bit sheltered.
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Really?
Genuinely asking, I’m just an engineer… with very very bad grades. Passed was enough for me.
Once a professor asked me if I wanted to take the exam again because it was clear that I knew more than what I showed on the exam (a lot of 2 + 2 = 5 mistakes, I was fairly good at that and owe most of my low grades to that). I asked him if I passed, he said yes. Fuck that shit, I’m taking that grade and parading it across town, wooohoo 🥳.
As they say, a PhD is about learning more and more about less and less. Some of the smartest people at conferences I’ve attended legitimately risk death crossing the street.
Lol 😂, reminds me of some of the professors at uni 😂.
Yep. Very domain specific knowledge but couldn’t pour piss outta a boot with the instructions on the heel.
The first film paints a different picture.
The whole point of his story in that film was his growth and development, started saying “kids smell” and ended holding two of them safe.
He was the one throughout who kept his head, stayed competent in the face of fear and dealing with chaos.
Characters in Jurassic Park are portrayed as flawed, imperfect people who make mistakes. None of the plot relies on them being idiots or anything, but people screw up, panic on occasion, and don’t know things from time to time.
Dr. Grant using a stick to test the fence is a mistake, albeit a small one without real consequences. While it doesn’t distract from his character arc of how he feels about kids, it is his character simply messing up.
I also disagree with the person you replied to. While their assessment is correct, Dr. Grant is a character with a lot of time working in the field and therefore has a lot of practical skills. He does way, way better than a doctorate in mathematics working in academia would. Writing off all people with a doctorate (or experts in general) as being hyper specialized is a mistake.
