Science Mike McHargue

[grmorton]

Does anyone know anything about him? I can't find anything about his education

http://mikemchargue.com/ask-science-mike/

[rogue06]

Source: Yes, I really was an atheist

Now, in terms of expertise, I do not hold any degree at all. I didn't go to college at all, so I have no formal education in the sciences or theology. I'm a self-made technologist and business person.

But, I do study science, and work hard to represent science accurately. I cite my sources. I listen to my interviews and fact check them. I usually tweet corrections when I discover I misremembered something. I love it when actual scientists talk to me and teach me. I love being corrected--it's a great way to learn.


Source

© Copyright Original Source

While the above says he never attended college here he says he went to Tallahassee Community College but nothing about a major or what classes he took.

[grmorton]

Source: Yes, I really was an atheist

Now, in terms of expertise, I do not hold any degree at all. I didn't go to college at all, so I have no formal education in the sciences or theology. I'm a self-made technologist and business person.

But, I do study science, and work hard to represent science accurately. I cite my sources. I listen to my interviews and fact check them. I usually tweet corrections when I discover I misremembered something. I love it when actual scientists talk to me and teach me. I love being corrected--it's a great way to learn.


Source

© Copyright Original Source

While the above says he never attended college here he says he went to Tallahassee Community College but nothing about a major or what classes he took.

Don't get me wrong, I am a on the job taught geologist. While I went to college majoring in physics, I never took a single geology class. I learned geology on the job and rose to Exploration Director for China, and Dir. of Technology where I had Ph. D. geologists working in my group.

I listened to one of his talks about the Big Bang and thought, this guy doesn't really know physics. When talking about wind turbines, he didn't seem to understand that the blades are made of petroleum polymers so they can be light weight enough to work. Without fossil fuels, wind power is powered down.

I found that for a while he was the chief technologist of the Sojourners, a left wing group of Christians.

Any one can learn anything outside of a university. My son is a psych major but became a software developer which irritates all those guys who got computer science degrees and now move hardware around. But he and I got into a debate one day about storage capacity in a computer. Up to that point he had not understood the power of 2 addressing system on a computer and why the length of the word was important. One misses things not going the ordinary route. In geology I thankfully missed mineralogy,, which meant for me, that I couldn't always understand some of the arguments laid out before me because they were mineralogical in nature. It is still that way.

[shunyadragon]

What would be the significance of Mike McHargue?

I found his knowledge of science weak and marginal. I see nothing of significance to his views.

[oxmixmudd]

When talking about wind turbines, he didn't seem to understand that the blades are made of petroleum polymers so they can be light weight enough to work. Without fossil fuels, wind power is powered down.

Though I'm sure your assessment of his Physics and other scientific knowledge is correct, I don't see this last bit in bold. Petroleum can be mined for its material properties other than as a fuel even if somehow we eliminate the need for it as a fuel. And I doubt seriously oil will cease to be used as fuel or it's myriad of alternative uses anytime soon. But reducing our dependence on oil is a good thing in so many ways, not the least of which is the fact a good bit of it is controlled by countries that would like nothing less that to find a way to eliminate us from the face of the Earth.


Jim

[rogue06]

Don't get me wrong, I am a on the job taught geologist. While I went to college majoring in physics, I never took a single geology class. I learned geology on the job and rose to Exploration Director for China, and Dir. of Technology where I had Ph. D. geologists working in my group.

I listened to one of his talks about the Big Bang and thought, this guy doesn't really know physics. When talking about wind turbines, he didn't seem to understand that the blades are made of petroleum polymers so they can be light weight enough to work. Without fossil fuels, wind power is powered down.

I found that for a while he was the chief technologist of the Sojourners, a left wing group of Christians.

Any one can learn anything outside of a university. My son is a psych major but became a software developer which irritates all those guys who got computer science degrees and now move hardware around. But he and I got into a debate one day about storage capacity in a computer. Up to that point he had not understood the power of 2 addressing system on a computer and why the length of the word was important. One misses things not going the ordinary route. In geology I thankfully missed mineralogy,, which meant for me, that I couldn't always understand some of the arguments laid out before me because they were mineralogical in nature. It is still that way.

I'm not disparaging him or promoting him (I've never even heard of him until this thread) but rather trying to provide information concerning his education which seems contradictory. In one place he said "I didn't go to college at all" and yet elsewhere that he went to Tallahassee Community College.

[oxmixmudd]

Don't get me wrong, I am a on the job taught geologist. While I went to college majoring in physics, I never took a single geology class. I learned geology on the job and rose to Exploration Director for China, and Dir. of Technology where I had Ph. D. geologists working in my group.

I listened to one of his talks about the Big Bang and thought, this guy doesn't really know physics. When talking about wind turbines, he didn't seem to understand that the blades are made of petroleum polymers so they can be light weight enough to work. Without fossil fuels, wind power is powered down.

I found that for a while he was the chief technologist of the Sojourners, a left wing group of Christians.

Any one can learn anything outside of a university. My son is a psych major but became a software developer which irritates all those guys who got computer science degrees and now move hardware around. But he and I got into a debate one day about storage capacity in a computer. Up to that point he had not understood the power of 2 addressing system on a computer and why the length of the word was important. One misses things not going the ordinary route. In geology I thankfully missed mineralogy,, which meant for me, that I couldn't always understand some of the arguments laid out before me because they were mineralogical in nature. It is still that way.

It is indeed possible to get educated outside a university setting. My own story is that when I decided I wanted a masters in Comp Sci I had only my work experience an undergrad math degree and some post graduate course work in mathematics, but none of the Prerequisite coursework for the Comp Sci degree. So what I did was go and get the university texts for each and every pre-requisite course that my work experience did not give me greater than or equal to knowledge, study them, and then take the GRE subject test, earning a sufficiently high score to have all the pre-requisites waived.

Jim

[Kbertsche]

Though I'm sure your assessment of his Physics and other scientific knowledge is correct, I don't see this last bit in bold. Petroleum can be mined for its material properties other than as a fuel even if somehow we eliminate the need for it as a fuel. And I doubt seriously oil will cease to be used as fuel or it's myriad of alternative uses anytime soon. But reducing our dependence on oil is a good thing in so many ways, not the least of which is the fact a good bit of it is controlled by countries that would like nothing less that to find a way to eliminate us from the face of the Earth.


Jim

Jim, though what you say is true, without the fossil fuel industry I suspect that the costs would be prohibitive. Petroleum byproducts would be much more expensive without the economies of scale that we get with lots of large petroleum refineries.

[oxmixmudd]

Jim, though what you say is true, without the fossil fuel industry I suspect that the costs would be prohibitive. Petroleum byproducts would be much more expensive without the economies of scale that we get with lots of large petroleum refineries.

That is a reasonable rejoinder, I had expected the cost would necessarily go up IF oil production deteriorated to the point there would not be sufficient petroleum produced to meet the ancillary products manufacturing needs. But I would expect that to take quite some time. I know Glenn would likely be able to give an estimate of what the minimum oil production might need to be to meet those needs. As long as the transitions are not to fast I would expect each industry would adapt. At a minimum though, non-expert that I am on this - certainly there has to be enough oil produced so that statistically the costs drilling and pumping (including the cost of failures) is less that the profit the oil itself brings. That could be negative net energy if what you sell the product for can bring enough to cover the costs, and as long as the energy to extract the oil doesn't have to come from the oil itself.


On the positive side though, what I'm thinking is that oil is a limited resource, and as Glenn has talked about for a while, at some point we will not be able to produce what the world needs. The more the infrastructure has been adapted to use alternative energy like windmills or solar, the more decent electric cars there are out there etc, the longer the world's oil supply can last. And then there is the issue of who has the oil, and how do we avoid be 'held over the barrel' so to speak.

Jim

[shunyadragon]

It is indeed possible to get educated outside a university setting. My own story is that when I decided I wanted a masters in Comp Sci I had only my work experience an undergrad math degree and some post graduate course work in mathematics, but none of the Prerequisite coursework for the Comp Sci degree. So what I did was go and get the university texts for each and every pre-requisite course that my work experience did not give me greater than or equal to knowledge, study them, and then take the GRE subject test, earning a sufficiently high score to have all the pre-requisites waived.

Jim

I agree, sort of . . . but when his views are incoherent and mixed up concerning science he needs an education. When you get into the specialized fields it is best to be educated by your superiors in that field. Yes some may be self educated like Glenn claims, but I would NOT give up the professors and instructors I had through the years, and their experience in geology and related fields for all the tea in China. I am still in school when I have the opportunity. I would not negate formal education if I were you. It is very important with a good attitude.

[Kbertsche]

What would be the significance of Mike McHargue?

I found his knowledge of science weak and marginal. I see nothing of significance to his views.

I knew I had seen his name somewhere recently. He will be a speaker at the 2017 BioLogos conference.