• fckreddit@lemmy.ml
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    3 days ago

    Has anyone wondered that maybe rats are the ones actually conducting experiments on scientists? I read about it in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy-

  • RBG@discuss.tchncs.de
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    3 days ago

    If your whole thesis is derailed by one rat not behaving as you thought I’d argue your thesis is probably pretty shitty to begin with.

  • 🏴Akuji@leminal.space
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    3 days ago

    Uncritical support for comrade 42, fighting the good fight against animal exploitation.

  • nomad@infosec.pub
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    3 days ago

    Hate to break it to you… 42 didn’t make it the first study. In the second study they just named three troublemaker 42 again… And he also didn’t make it. After a study, all those rats just go to a big farm to live out their lives in peace. Not.

  • BudgetBandit@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    Actually not all rats are afraid of cats. I had a lot of pet rats and some cats. While the two cats are mostly afraid and respectful of the rats, about 1/4 of the rats had no problem co-existing with the cats. Like, they saw the cat as a rat and acted like it, not afraid or anything, while another rat peed herself because she was so scared of the cats.

  • NaevaTheRat [she/her]@vegantheoryclub.org
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    3 days ago

    wholesome animal experimentation. So cute and wholesome how they keep them in shitty cages, feed them a bland diet, and kill them the moment the experiment is over.

    What a nice story.

    • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 days ago

      In this story the researcher’s problem was that they let the rat live and used it across multiple experiments

      • NaevaTheRat [she/her]@vegantheoryclub.org
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        3 days ago

        I am not sure if you’re being deliberately contrarian to protect cognitive dissonance, or just wildly ignorant of how studies are conducted.

        In the most literal sense a study is made of a battery of experiments that are each run across a series of tests. This is also just “an experiment” colloquially since they’re all testing the same area. They do not take rats from say a maze solving study, then give them diabetes for a different study, then give them a brain tumor before putting them in the decapicone (a real product).

        I have stolen lab rats marked for death, I know what I’m talking about.

        • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          3 days ago

          They do not take rats from say a maze solving study, then give them diabetes for a different study, then give them a brain tumor before putting them in the decapicone (a real product).

          I figured, but in the meme story this is pretty explicitly what is happening.

            • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              3 days ago

              The diet experiment is presented as present tense. The cat smell experiment is described with “I once ran an experiment”, part of the speaker’s “thesis”, which is in the past. They are clearly keeping #42 alive to be used in totally separate research, in this fictional The Onion esque scenario.

                • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  3 days ago

                  I found a source that includes the second half which makes it more obvious:

                  Dr. Macho believes #42’s behavior is intentional and aimed specifically at him. “I caught him laughing at me once while I was trying to sort data he’d fucked up. I know what you’re thinking, ‘Can rats even laugh? And what would it look like?’ Trust me, when a rat laughs at you, you’ll know.”

                  When asked why he doesn’t simply exchange #42 for a less malicious rat, Dr. Macho explained, “You can’t just use an infinite number of lab rats. They start to think you’re a psycho if you keep asking for more.” Dr. Macho sighed. “I feel like I’m living in an annoying Pixar movie where I’m the bad guy – oh, wait….I’m the bad guy. I’m the evil scientist performing experiments on a sassy, smart rat. And my name is Dr. Stu Macho? Oof, yeah, I’m the wrong one here.”

                  Just behind Dr. Macho, #42 winked and walked directly into his food bowl.

  • Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk
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    3 days ago

    Pinky: Gee, Brain #42. What are we going to do tonight?

    The Brain #42: The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world.

  • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    Well, yeah, but you should have seen what his cousins did trying to figure out the answer to life, the universe and everything