Speaking of annoying AMAs...

"Bandit" (2bandit) 10/09/2014 at 20:31 • Filed to: AMA

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Ask me anything.

Dsscats > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:32

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Why the T/A?

Bad Idea Hat > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:33

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Why did you do that to yourself (restoration hell)?

 V8 Rustler > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:33

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Why is the Cobra hood better than the Fire Chicken?

Bandit >  V8 Rustler 10/09/2014 at 20:34

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Because it's a mother fucking snake shooting flames(?) out its ass!

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:35

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Are you on the club swim team at Purdue?

SmoresTM Has No Chill (O==[][]==O) > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:35

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Why? (not regarding the AMA. just in general)

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:36

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Do you even?

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:37

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Should I have a Mai Tai tonight?

Bandit > Bad Idea Hat 10/09/2014 at 20:37

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Because racecar? No. I really wanted to be different than everyone else in my world. How many kids under 20 do you see riding around in cars twice as old as they are? To be honest though, I never anticipated doing this much work. When I bought the car, I thought it was in a lot better shape than it really was. I didn't need an engine or trans swap, but I found a good price and decided why not? I didn't need a paint job, but do you know how shameful it is to drive a purple car that has mosquitos trapped under the clear coat? The interior actually needed to be done though. I figured I may as well get the restoration out of the way before real life got in the way. Since starting college I haven't seen the car in over 2 months so I'm glad I did a ton of the work before I had to get serious with my life.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:39

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Don't fuck with fire chicken...

Bandit > Dsscats 10/09/2014 at 20:41

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My college entrance essay to Purdue was on how Smokey and the Bandit influenced me to become an engineer. I first saw the car when I was 10 when my dad showed me the movie. A year later I saw a rusted out trashed 78 gold special edition idle past me in the parking lot of a trashy truck stop. The loping idle and bird on the hood mesmerized me. I knew I had to have one. I worked for several summers saving every penny I earned for years to afford one. Once I convinced my mother it was a good idea for me to buy one (my dad loved the idea) I started the hard search to find a car that ran and drove but needed work (could only buy one car so it would have to be my DD). Bought Emma in april 2012 and the rest is history.

Bandit > SmoresTM Has No Chill (O==[][]==O) 10/09/2014 at 20:41

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Why what? I don't get your question. 42?

Bandit > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 10/09/2014 at 20:42

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No. I now only swim for a good workout. I was never a good enough diver/swimmer to be good in any D1 school.

burntartichoke > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:42

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Why did you do another annoying AMA?

Bandit > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 10/09/2014 at 20:42

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No. Man up and drink some whiskey.

Bandit > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 10/09/2014 at 20:42

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I can odd and I'm pretty sure my pH is less than 7... (get it?)

Bandit > burntartichoke 10/09/2014 at 20:43

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To piss everyone off. It's what I do.

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:43

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I had a Brown Derby on my second Tuesday, and an Old Fashioned on Wednesday.

Bandit > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 10/09/2014 at 20:45

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You're allowed a Mai Tai... but make one for me too.

burntartichoke > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:45

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I'm not pissed off...sorry :|

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:45

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I assumed that, which is why I asked if you were on the club team, they are super chill. I wanted to gloat a little cause you guys came out to my school a few weeks ago and we crushed you guys.

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:46

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If you can make it to Waikiki tonight, I'll buy you one.

SmoresTM Has No Chill (O==[][]==O) > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:46

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I took a history of western ethics course once. It tied into philosophy a great deal. The final exam consisted of one essay that was meant to take a three hour block. The questions was, simply, "why?" I offer you the same question, Mr. Bandit.

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:47

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Yes

Bandit > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 10/09/2014 at 20:47

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Oh sorry, I read that as team. Yeah... I wen't to a call out. They even told us that the team was really really bad...

Bandit > SmoresTM Has No Chill (O==[][]==O) 10/09/2014 at 20:53

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Oh. Got it. My answer is as follows:

The development of science is often portrayed as a conflict between science and religion, between the natural and the supernatural. But it was equally, if not more so, a conflict with Aristotelian concepts: a change from Aristotle's emphasis on why to a dominant role for how. To become the mainstream, science had to overcome resistance, first and foremost, from the academic establishment and only secondarily from the church. The former, represented by the disciples of Aristotle and the scholastic tradition, was at least as vociferous in condemning Galileo as the latter. Galileo, starting from when he was a student and for most of his career, was in conflict with the natural philosophers. (I decline to call them scientists.) His conflict with the church was mostly towards the end of his career, after he was fifty and more seriously when he was nearing seventy. The church itself even relied on the opinions of the natural philosophers to justify condemning the idea the earth moved. In the end science and Galileo's successors won out and Aristotle's natural philosophy was vanquished: the stationary earth, the perfect heavens (circular planetary orbits and perfectly spherical planets), nature abhorring a vacuum, the prime mover and so on. For most of these it is so long and good riddance. So why do philosophers still spend so much time studying Aristotle? I really don't know.

However, Aristotle did have a few good ideas whose loss is unfortunate. The baby was thrown out with the bath water, so to speak. One such concept, although much abused, is the classification of causes given by Aristotle. The four types of causes he identified are the formal, material, effective and final causes. He believed that these four causes were necessary and sufficient to explain any phenomena. The formal cause is the plan, the material cause is what it is made of, the effective cause is the "how", and the final cause is the "why". If you think in terms of building a house the formal cause is the blueprint, the material cause is what it is built of (the wood, brick, glass, etc.), the effective causes are the carpenters and their tools (are hammers obsolete?) and the final cause is the purpose the house was built for.

Aristotle and his medieval followers emphasized the final cause and pure thought. Science became established only by breaking away from the final cause and the tyranny of "why". The shift from concentrating on pure thought and the final cause (why) to concentrating on observations and effective causes (how) was the driving factor in the development of science. Science has now so completely swept Aristotle aside that, at the present time, only the effective cause is considered a cause in the "cause and effect" sense.

However, in dealing with human activities all four of these types of causes are useful. For example consider TRIUMF where I work. The formal cause is the five-year plan given in a brilliantly written (OK. I helped write it and they pay my salary so what else could I say) 800-page book that lays out the program for the current five years and beyond. The material cause is what TRIUMF is built of (many tons of concrete shielding among other things). The effective cause is the people and machines that make TRIUMF work. The final cause is TRIUMF's purpose as given in the mission and vision statements. A similar analysis can be done for any organization. The usefulness of the final cause concept is shown by it being resurrected in good management practice under the heading of mission and/or vision statements.

Now, when we go from human activity to animal activity, we lose the formal cause. Consider a bird building a nest. The material cause is what the nest is built of, the effective cause is the bird itself and the final cause is to provide a safe place to raise its young. But the formal cause does not exist. It is doubtful the bird has a blueprint for the nest; rather the nest is built as the result of effective causes – the reflexive actions of the bird. No bird ever wrote an 800-page book outlining how to build a nest. Just as well, or the avian dinosaurs (otherwise known as birds) would have gone extinct along with the non-avian ones.

A similar analysis exists for simpler organisms. A recent study of yeast showed why (in the sense of the final cause) yeast cells clump together: to increase the efficiency of extracting nutrients from the surroundings. Thus in dealing with human, animal or even yeast activities, science can and does answer the why or final cause question. In the case of the yeast the effective cause would be the method the yeast cells used to do the bonding and the material cause the substances used for the bonding.

When we go from animate to inanimate we lose, in addition to the formal cause, the final cause. Aristotle explained the falling of objects in terms of a final cause: the objects wanted to be at their natural place at the center of the universe, which Aristotle thought was the center of the earth. The reason they speed up as they fell was they became jubilant at approaching their natural place (I am not making that up). Newton, in contrast, proposed an effective cause: gravity. There was no goal, ie final cause, just an effective cause. A river does not flow with the aim of reaching the sea but just goes where gravity pulls. Similarly with evolution by natural selection, it has no aim but just goes where natural selection pulls. This freaks out those people who insist on formal and final causes. With much ingenuity, they have tried to rectify the situation by proposing formal and final causes: intelligent design and theistic evolution respectively. Intelligent design posits that at least some of the structures found in living organisms are the result of intelligent design by an outside agent and not the result of natural selection while theistic evolution posits that evolution was controlled by God to produce Homo Sapiens . Neither has been found to increase the ability of models to make accurate predictions; hence they have no place in science. It is this lack of utility not the role of a supernatural agent that leads to their rejection as science.

To summarize: for the activities of living things, science can and does answer the why question and assigns a final cause. However, for non-living things science has not found the final cause concept to be useful and has eliminated it based on parsimony . Aristotle, his followers and disciples made the mistake of anthropomorphizing nature and assigning to it causes that are only appropriate to humans or, at best, living things.

Tl;Dr: no clue, I didn't read it.

Cite: ( http://www.quantumdiaries.org/2011/12/16/can… )

Bandit > burntartichoke 10/09/2014 at 20:54

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Well good! :D

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 20:54

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Oh rough... Surprisingly the only good big 10 team we've seen is Ohio State. And we're going down there this weekend for a big 15ish team invitational.

Bandit > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 10/09/2014 at 20:55

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Good luck! Is there any diving at the events?

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 21:02

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Sometimes yes, we tried to have some divers on our team last year and the school said it was a liability so we couldnt.

SmoresTM Has No Chill (O==[][]==O) > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 21:04

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Tl;Dr: no clue, I didn't read it.

Well played.

Funny story about that exam. There were three kids who finished impossibly quickly. I mean, impossibly. They handed in their essay after a few minutes. This was supposed to take 3 hours. Apparently two of the three wrote "Because." as their answer. The other wrote "Why not?" The two who wrote "because" aced it. They got 100%. The other kid got a whopping 0% because, and I quote, "you can't answer a question with a question."

ly2v8-Brian >  V8 Rustler 10/09/2014 at 21:05

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1. It's not

2. Both are inferior to the greatness of the El Camino Black/Royal Knight.

Bandit > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 10/09/2014 at 21:06

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Why? What's the worst that could happen? I mean sure I've cut the tips of my fingers off, and sure I've destroyed my wrists and ankles, and sure my teammate (now a varsity diver at Purdue) broke both of his feet diving, but it's not a dangerous sport!

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 21:12

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We arent even allowed to use blocks. Its ridiculous. And one of my teammates back in high school actually face planted on the board one of the meets. He was okay but his face was pretty fucked up for a little while.

Hahayoustupidludditeshutupandgohandcrankyourmodeltalready > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 21:17

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You may choose one of these to daily drive, one to track and one to carry home groceries in in the glovebox. All others you must tear apart and burn with acetylene and diesel with your own hands and tears running down your face.

Dodge Challenger Hellcat

Dodge Charger Hellcat

Jeep Grand Cherokee Hellcat

Dodge Grand Caravan Hellcat

Dodge Dart Hellcat

Grumman Hellcat

Choose wisely.

Bandit > Hahayoustupidludditeshutupandgohandcrankyourmodeltalready 10/09/2014 at 21:28

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DD Grumman Hellcat: 'MURICA!

Track: Challenger Hellcat

Groceries: Cherokee Hellcat

Bandit > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 10/09/2014 at 21:29

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What!? No blocks?! How are you suppose to start? On the side of the pool like an awkward middle school swimmer learning to swim competitively for the first time? You only fuck up diving if you act stupid.

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 21:36

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We start in the water actually, it sucks. Which is why I dont take home meets very seriously. The away meets are where I swim for actual times and stuff like that.

Also, fun fact, we have a kid on our team that wear a cowboy hat every where he goes and has at least six shots worth of liquor before every meet. He goes 22-mid in he 50 free while drunk.

Hahayoustupidludditeshutupandgohandcrankyourmodeltalready > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 21:39

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You do realize that all groceries must be put in the glovebox.

Bandit > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 10/09/2014 at 21:41

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That's really impressive... Like state cut time for my state in high school fast.

Bandit > Hahayoustupidludditeshutupandgohandcrankyourmodeltalready 10/09/2014 at 21:43

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Can I change it to a Durango Hellcat? See:

Hahayoustupidludditeshutupandgohandcrankyourmodeltalready > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 21:44

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Only as long as it is badged and styled as a Jeep Grand Wagoneer.

1337HPMustang > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 21:44

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what would you do if someone drew a penis on your firebird emblem so it looked like the bird had a penis?

I'm not proud of the fact that the first time I used my touchscreen stylus was to draw a cartoon penis on a bird...

 V8 Rustler > ly2v8-Brian 10/09/2014 at 21:45

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Is that your car?

Bandit > 1337HPMustang 10/09/2014 at 21:45

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I would probably laugh and then find the person who did that, make them pay for the hood to be buffed to remove the scratches, and then kill them.

ly2v8-Brian >  V8 Rustler 10/09/2014 at 21:46

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No, but I want one.

1337HPMustang > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 21:47

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appropriate and moderate response. You have answered correctly

Sweet Trav > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 21:48

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well it'd be a kluneberg

EL_ULY > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 21:49

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boobie balls

camaroboy68ss > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 21:56

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what about the boob bird from South Park?

Bandit > camaroboy68ss 10/09/2014 at 22:01

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I don't know what that is... so assume I'll laugh, then kill them.

TheLOUDMUSIC- Put it in H! > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 22:10

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Bandit > TheLOUDMUSIC- Put it in H! 10/09/2014 at 22:17

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I'd roll with it. 10/10 would DD

TheLOUDMUSIC- Put it in H! > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 22:22

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We must go to the Breastriary in Nippopilos.

Bad Idea Hat > 1337HPMustang 10/09/2014 at 22:40

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In that vein, I wonder what a Firebirdized Dickbutt would look like.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 22:48

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what would you do if someone put a cartoon text bubble sticker next to the Screaming Chicken's Beak and wrote on it in sharpie what the Chicken was screaming?

Bandit > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 10/09/2014 at 23:01

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Certain death. Seriously. I would definitely become irrational and harm someone.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 23:05

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I Have a photoshop Idea, keep an eye out tomorrow. You'll either love it or hate it. Its inspired by my earlier question about the sticker and the screaming chicken. btw, hows your wrist?

Bandit > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 10/09/2014 at 23:07

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Haha... okay. It's still in pain but it is getting slightly better so it isn't a fracture.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Bandit 10/09/2014 at 23:11

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Im glad its getting better.

Captain of the Enterprise > Bandit 10/10/2014 at 10:07

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I would have just written "why not?" and left like some kind of literary mike drop but that works too.

Captain of the Enterprise > SmoresTM Has No Chill (O==[][]==O) 10/10/2014 at 10:10

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damn I would have failed