And you wonder why Republicans are considered anti-science

[Billy Jingo]

The Metric System Is Anti-Human Central Planning

A certain segment of the pundit class can’t stand the idea that one country might be different from the others. This is even truer when that one country is the United States of America. The idea that different peoples in different nations might have different ideas on how to govern themselves is distasteful to people who think they have humanity all figured out and want to convince—or force—everyone to go along.

The constant outbursts from the outlet Vox on the metric system are emblematic of that thinking. This video from 2017, which they retweeted in January 2019, is not the first on the subject. A 2014 article made largely the same point, and one from 2015 did the same from a campier perspective.

Vox isn’t the only outlet hung up on metric. Slate griped about this aspect of American exceptionalism back in 1999. And Republican-turned-Democrat Lincoln Chaffee’s brief run for the presidency in 2016 was mostly remembered for his support of grams and liters.

So why all the hullabaloo about the metric system? Well, one thing is true of it: it would be easier if all the world measured things in exactly the same way. But that is true of a lot of things.

It would be easier if all seven billion of us spoke the same language, wore the same clothes, worshipped the same god, and selected our governments in the same way. Most of these, if we tried to force them on other nations, would be seen as a terrible impositions by the folks who love the metric system. But when it comes to how much your groceries weigh, cultural imperialism is just fine—especially if it is directed against Americans.

The metric system—or the International System of Units, to give its proper name—was an outgrowth of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. While the left still enjoys the idea of revolution, at least against monarchies, the Enlightenment has fallen on hard times among the people who occupy that half of the political spectrum. (The French Revolution is also the origin of the left-right political spectrum.) Yet for the metric system, they make an exception.

Which sounds better, a system that developed gradually with slight adjustments over the centuries, or one dreamed up by revolutionaries fresh from sending half of their countrymen to the guillotine? That is the difference between the English system we use (also known as the Imperial System) and the metric system: one developed gradually from the ground up and was later codified, the other was imposed from above based on the ideas of a few radicals.

[scott]

And you wonder why Republicans are considered anti-science

Because some guy from the Federalist advocates that the Metric system isn't perfect and should not be forced on society at large?

That's not even a tenuous connection. It's laughable that the connection to science is made at all. People smart enough to have jobs that require precise metric calculations can certainly convert to imperial in their head for day to day stuff like buying steak.

[gary m]

Because some guy from the Federalist advocates that the Metric system isn't perfect and should not be forced on society at large?

That's not even a tenuous connection. It's laughable that the connection to science is made at all. People smart enough to have jobs that require precise metric calculations can certainly convert to imperial in their head for day to day stuff like buying steak.

I've yet to meet a drug dealer that couldn't convert grams to ounces in their head in milliseconds.

[Frostbit]

I've yet to meet a drug dealer that couldn't convert grams to ounces in their head in milliseconds.

Why does 28 stick in my mind......

[Gingersnap]

I've never understood this "controversy". Everybody doing science, medicine, or anything technical uses metric - not because the blood thirsty French were somehow more "sciency" but because it's just easy.

The U.S. adopted it in 1893.

When Suzie Late-Adopter measures out her bran cereal with an imperial cup, the cereal manufacturer packed the box using metric measurements which is why some weights and volumes look funny on packaging.

It doesn't matter if Suzie has 4 ozs. of juice and a half a cup of bran because Suzie isn't running a factory - all those people use metric.

It just isn't any issue for anybody. If you need metric, you know it - if you don't, who cares?

[80zephyr]

At least we know the difference between girls and boys.

Mark

[Gingersnap]

At least we know the difference between girls and boys.

Mark

That's the real science.

It's pretty bad when toddlers can distinguish overt genetics but academics can't.

[Norm dePlume]

I've never understood this "controversy". Everybody doing science, medicine, or anything technical uses metric - not because the blood thirsty French were somehow more "sciency" but because it's just easy.

The U.S. adopted it in 1893.

When Suzie Late-Adopter measures out her bran cereal with an imperial cup, the cereal manufacturer packed the box using metric measurements which is why some weights and volumes look funny on packaging.

It doesn't matter if Suzie has 4 ozs. of juice and a half a cup of bran because Suzie isn't running a factory - all those people use metric.

It just isn't any issue for anybody. If you need metric, you know it - if you don't, who cares?

"It isn't an issue for anybody" is an overstatement. So is "all those people use metric."

MARS CLIMATE ORBITER TEAM FINDS LIKELY CAUSE OF LOSS
A failure to recognize and correct an error in a transfer of information between the Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft team in Colorado and the mission navigation team in California led to the loss of the spacecraft last week, preliminary findings by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory internal peer review indicate.
"People sometimes make errors," said Dr. Edward Weiler, NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science. "The problem here was not the error, it was the failure of NASA's systems engineering, and the checks and balances in our processes to detect the error. That's why we lost the spacecraft."

The peer review preliminary findings indicate that one team used English units (e.g., inches, feet and pounds) while the other used metric units for a key spacecraft operation. This information was critical to the maneuvers required to place the spacecraft in the proper Mars orbit.

"Our inability to recognize and correct this simple error has had major implications," said Dr. Edward Stone, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We have underway a thorough investigation to understand this issue."

[Gingersnap]

"It isn't an issue for anybody" is an overstatement. So is "all those people use metric."

I heard about that and can barely believe it. I mean why would anybody do that? It's senseless. There's literally no reason to use that system for that application.

On the other hand, I'm not attempting to buy 500 grams of shrimp in this country. Different things for different uses.

[Novaheart]

Normally I put the back of my hand to my pith helmet and lament our lost empire and Imperial measurements. Like most people, I'm happy to only need one set of wrenches and sockets. I see no point to using celsius but I don't mind using kilograms.

I must say that metric measures is a plot by the world's grocers. Instead of ordering "one pound" you now order "500 grams" of turkey. So they are selling 46 grams more with each sale. Of course, this won't work at Walmart where some customers ask for "Three dollars worth of ham". When the clerk asks "It's a little over, is that OK?" the customers responds "As long as it's three dollars."

[scott]

"It isn't an issue for anybody" is an overstatement. So is "all those people use metric."

So it's anti-science because some government idiots used the wrong standard?

[Norm dePlume]

So it's anti-science because some government idiots used the wrong standard?

Speak for yourself. The point I was making was the point I spelled out explicitly. No inference required.

[Adam]

nrewscaster.jpg

"Party filled with people who claim that babies are actually cancer and any person who really believes he is a cactus is actually a cactus claims everyone else doesn't believe science. Film at eleven."

[Tom Servo]

Normally I put the back of my hand to my pith helmet and lament our lost empire and Imperial measurements. Like most people, I'm happy to only need one set of wrenches and sockets. I see no point to using celsius but I don't mind using kilograms.

I must say that metric measures is a plot by the world's grocers. Instead of ordering "one pound" you now order "500 grams" of turkey. So they are selling 46 grams more with each sale. Of course, this won't work at Walmart where some customers ask for "Three dollars worth of ham". When the clerk asks "It's a little over, is that OK?" the customers responds "As long as it's three dollars."

This is why I like Publix. If they go over, they take it back off until they reach the desired amount, print the barcode and then put the extra back on for free.


***

If, as some here say, it doesn't matter which measurement system we use, and all the highfallutin' jobs require metric, why not just over time make metric the overall standard and be done with it, for simplicity's sake? Eventually a new generation that grew up on it will accept it and be better prepared for the jobs that require it. Or better yet, make it the standard and still teach Imperial because more math done in the brain is good for us. At least that's what you guys said in the thread about making change.

I don't really care if we go metric or not anymore. I just wish people wouldn't stand in the way of states that want to convert on their own. I've told the story before about how Alabama wanted to convert the state to metric in the 90's (the state does use metric on contracted services like road paving, I believe) and part of that was to begin teaching it in schools and even swapping highway markers out for km signs.

The state got as far as the km markers on highways before the US Government stepped in and said "those are not approved apparatuses, and if you don't take them down we'll withhold federal funding". The entire plan to go metric statewide was scrapped because of that.

I mean, why would DC have a dog in this fight?

From what I recall, the troopers actually liked the kilometer markers because if someone was broke down they didn't have to go as far to find a signpost to tell someone where to find them. So irony that today the state uses tenths of a mile markers on interstates, every other tenth of a mile for that same reason. Hell, they could have just left up the kilometer and mile markers and accomplished the same thing!

[80zephyr]

For a modern society, metric makes more sense. Using a base of ten is about as easy as it can get.

Mark