Sep 5, 2025
So, apparently physicists don't understand why knitting works?
Not the usual title I expected for a SciShow episode but here we are.
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So, apparently physicists don't understand why knitting works?
Not the usual title I expected for a SciShow episode but here we are.
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Hank Green & AI Industry Propaganda
This morning I saw this video by Internet of Bugs (link: youtube, "SciShow Is Lying to You about AI. Here are the receipts."). It is a criticism of a recent SciShow episode "We Have Lost Control of AI" that seems to validate the idea that AI technology is increasing at an unprecedented rate even compared to atomic physics and the development of the atomic bomb, and constitutes a similar extinction level threat to humanity.
Overall I agree with the IOB video (I do think some of his supporting rhetoric is not particularly strong), however I was really struck by the smoking gun that he brings up against SciShow and the credibility of their AI videos, which is the sponsor of the video Control / AI. They are an initiative to call on global leaders to prioritize 'mitigating the risk of human extinction from AI.' And Hey- even Sam Altman himself has signed it!
At first glance I can see why this wouldn't necessarily raise alarm bells- controlling AI sounds good! But in my opinion, Control / AI reads like an attempt to defang anti-AI activism and direct concerns away from real, actionable and ongoing harms of the AI industry and the culpability of its profiteers, to a vague threat of extinction from "superintelligent-systems" and foreboding doom. It becomes clear when their campaign statement only mentions AI Systems and not AI companies (besides to say that the CEOs are on board), and the campaign seems summarily focused on preventing a hypothetical future "advanced superintelligence", rather than stopping the real, present and actionable harms of disinformation, human rights abuses and unemployment of generative AI. Even if we assume true and honest intentions from Control / AI, they are just talking about sci-fi bullshit here, and not any of the things that actually exist, or that we should actually be caring about.
SciShow being sponsored by this campaign to make their video (a weird thing to do on its own right, btw) should make you pause and question the intentions of the campaign and the integrity of the channel and their content on AI. It should make you stop and consider who benefits from a feeling that "AI" is out of control and the invisible force of Technological Advancement will lead it to take over the world. It probably makes AI companies look pretty tasty to investors, that's for sure.
I know that scishow is not very good and has been specifically noticeably transmisogynist since their laughably misinformed HRT video but "All The Different Ways People Without Uteri Can Get Endometriosis Featuring The Types Of People That Exist: Cis Women, Trans Men, and Cis Men" is just...
"Cis men assigned male at birth sometimes get endometriosis after taking estrogen therapy for various disorders." Ok is there another group of assigned male at birth people who often take drastically higher doses of estrogen that you're forgetting here? Like they're not even transphobic generally because they go into great detail on trans men and the specific shortfalls of the available studies on trans men, but they do not even MENTION trans women in the video. At all. Not even to say that they could not find any sources on the topic, which I would take their word on if they'd fucking bothered!
I did not have Hank Green mansplaining how knitters just didn’t realize they were doing really cool science stuff until the men came along and told them how sciency it was on my bingo card, but here we are.
It’s been a few days and all the knitters have asked him kindly to do a follow up to his scishow episode but crickets.
The old argument that men do high art and women do crafts gets fucking old, and Hank Green had the opportunity to show how innovative knitting was and instead failed in the most condescending way.
even in the best faith reading possible of the scishow video on hrt, it is a sloppily put together and lazily researched video repeating harmful medical misinformation that can potentially harm people.
let's all not have a case of Gell-Mann Amnesia about this. dont recommend or trust their videos ever again. and also a takeaway is, take all science communication videos on youtube with a big grain of sand (which sucks if youre Not knowledgable about a topic)
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✨️Fibre ✨️ Bruja✨️
~ Physics & Knitting ~
This has been on my radar for a few years now. TBH - a goodly portion of the science is way over my head (Biology & Physics is a Venn diagram with a slit of a vertical overlap) but it is fascinating.
The Venn of knitting & Physics - in some spaces - is nearly a circle. Why knitting endures as a manufacturing staple is due to the physical properties of the fabrics it produces. Nothing else acts like a knit - nothing stretches, holds shape, and moves like a knit.
As with its programming counterpart, knit/purl combination can be viewed as a binary that creates endless possibilities in pattern & function. Recently, the kids who were taught to knit (likely to keep busy minds engaged in a calming hobby) have turned into scientists whose busy minds asked the right questions of their hobby.
Studies continue to unfold [Pun] as applied physics sees the potential. This G.Tech article brought my eyes back to the research & i can't help but notice all the women attached to this specific field of study. 🎊
Big publications with serious research have needled [pun 2] their way into the awesomeness of our preferred loopy [no pun] pastime.
Advancing Physics & Am. Scientists
To link but a few - please Google. This topic is hotter than the Halibut Sweater pattern on TikTok - and what could possibly be cooler than all this Science-y overview?
Hank Green explaining it to folks. [Albeit - getting many details wrong about the history & process of knitting as viewed by a WMoP.]
Still - our ancient craft is inspiring new mathematics & understandings of our world & how it works.
We knit in remarkable times.
Addendum: as previously noted, SciShow vids contained numerous inaccuracies & biases a response to & catalog of those errors can be found on Parkrose Permaculture offering a Correction of Errors
Jumping onto the scishow knitting fiasco (I say that as if I didn't just talk extensively about it on reddit already) as a knitter/crocheter AND a scientist whose proudest work was making nanofibers for tissue regeneration, I have a lot of beef with the misogynistic fabric (see what I did there) the video was cut out of.
My work on tissue regeneration is simply put, making teeny tinny super super thin fibers while simultaneously organizing them into what would somehow mimic the micro-environment in which skin, and , later on predominantly, joints are naturally in (aka your knees, elbow, shoulders, etc, but mostly knees) so that it promotes the skin to recover better from burns or joints to recover from various type of joint injury or arthritis.
My knowledge of how fabric was formed from loops/knots helped me greatly in predicting the outcome of my work so I was able to spend less time guessing. Heck, my knowledge in baking also helped me greatly in designing the research method.
These predominantly female hobbies gave me the tools to advance medicine and there's nothing frivolous about that. My grandma hobbies are what would, hopefully, one day help someone's aching grandma, and maybe even help her regain the ability to skip to her favorite local yarn store and I think that's beautiful.
