Oof don’t get me started. He read that line from Hawking and stuck to it. I had a blast watching nuCosmos when it came out and he’s done plenty good science communication, but Carl Sagan he is not.

It’s not a new thing. The same issues were the case for television, radio, and newspapers. They had to teach media literacy before the internet too. You go back into the archives and you’ll see some wild misinformation that’s very reminiscent of what we see on the internet. We did have a brief few decades where we had a more consistent and adhered to set of standards, but these were by no means universal. The perception of reliable information is also skewed the combination of being less aware of misinformation when younger and by a unique period where mass reputable media were all saying the same thing… But that also meant they were leaving the same things out.

But the internet did change things. Standards have been blown up, misinformation is much faster and the volume of it is much higher. Our brains couldn’t keep up with 24hr news channels, let alone the cesspools of social media we have now.

Here’s a psychological discussion that expands on that idea: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X22000719

That’s why you teach philosophy and critical thinking. Science will follow if that’s the kid’s interest. But learning to be being self-aware of your own position amongst others, including the position of Science, is key.

I am sympathetic to the frustration with and resistance to feeling marketed to, but this person just seems to lack self-awareness… And lack of awareness in general. Not a good look.

I won’t assume he’s representative of large swathes of developers 👀👀👀

Well it’s a lab in China, and neutrinos are small, like viruses. So clearly they’re developing a quantum virus to destabilize the west. Come December, we will see the first cases of the ominous QUOVID-25.

Requires account

If you’re out of the loop, I found this article fairly helpful for a primer on the issues. It’s CNN, but I can’t be arsed to find a more kosher source.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/25/us/tea-app-dating-privacy-cec

That’s… What an AI generated review is.

If budget is the top of your list, EVs currently have high depreciation. You can easily find 2-year old EVs with low mileage for 50% off MSRP.

I didn’t say it’s the same system, there are several different ways and degrees in which modern slavery exists. Trapping and exploiting migrant/seasonal workers is another popular one. Modern slavery exists from the US to Brazil, China/central Asia, Russia, Türkiye, even in parts of western Europe you’ll find it in smaller or less obvious amounts.

https://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/

https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/modern-slavery/

Well, the US did have the slate truck coming up for really barebones options… But tariffs ruined that for now. Some of the lower budget Korean EVs have limited/optional connectivity.

There is plenty of modern slave labor and exploitation going around. No major manufacutring nation is innocent.

$25 a week on groceries in 1997 is around $50 today based on currency inflation, not even accounting for purchasing power. That could easily make the difference between a nutritious diet and one that leads to chronic health conditions for people living paycheck to paycheck. In 1997, the average weekly expenditure on food per person in the US was $34. You could probably have survived off of $15/wk for food back then and maybe find an extra 2-3hr of minimum wage to meet your $25 investment, but it wouldn’t have been pretty.

Fun fact, a $25 steak today in the US cost about $8.50 in 1997.

You go back in time to when you’re living paycheck to paycheck and zero financial literacy. You convince yourself to invest $100/month in Amazon no matter what, because it will be worth it. You eat nothing but instant ramen, forego preventative care, get sick from malnutrition. Your quality of life is horrible because you forego basic necessities to invest in Amazon. The dot com bubble wipes out 90% of Amazon’s value but you continue to invest because your past self told you about this, but if you just endure, Amazon will recover and you will be a millionaire.

In this timeline, Amazon never recovers and goes bankrupt. On Twitter, you read a post about George Shaheen’s wedding, and how he’s entitled to his billions, despite predatory and exploitative practices, because his wealth could have been yours. If you had only invested $100/month since 1996 into WebVan, you’d be a millionaire.

Investing is, at the end of the day, a gamble.

The “Ex-colleague with a liver disease” sent a chill through my spine. Was he an Ex-colleague because he was fired for being sick 👀👀👀? Was he healing himself or was he desperate not to die? There’s a difference.

Work can be meaningful, therapeutic, or simply a useful tool for coping. That doesn’t mean it should be the only tool, nor should it be relied on without clinical guidance, nor should it be the expectation.

Talk-therapy might not be for everyone, work therapy certainly isn’t. The complete lack of empathy and humanization in the post is disgusting.

Yes, their energy requirements have also skyrocketed in the last 20 years. However if you look at their energy mix, in 2010 their energy mix was around 70% from coal, and today it’s around 50% of their totally energy mix.

AI bad. But also, video AI started with will Will Smith eating spaghetti just a couple years ago.

We keep talking about AI doing complex tasks right now and it’s limitations, then extrapolating its development linearly. It’s not linear and it’s not in one direction. It’s a exponential and rhizomatic process. Humans always over-estimate (ignoring hard limits) and under-estimate (thinking linearly) how these things go. With rocketships, with internet/social media, and now with AI.

I think people underestimate the frontline deployability piece regarding hormones. Prolonged loss of access to hormone therapy is rough on the person, just as losing access to any medication like ADHD medication or asthma medication would be if you’re cut off from supply while fighting in the bushes.

That being said, not everyone in the military needs the same requirement. For example classes are assistive technology that a lot of people in the military use and fighter pilots have more stringent uncorrected vision requirements compared to infantry. Depending on your role, post-enlistment medication requirements do not automatically get you kicked out, though your role may have to change. In an advanced military, there are lots of non-frontline roles to fill, especially now that non-frontline drone warfare is becoming more and more prevalent. Some militaries around the world are starting to accept certain medicated conditions including mild mental health conditions. When you’re understaffed, you can’t afford to turn away otherwise able and willing recruits.

Militaries absolutely have to conform to the people who serve in them. User-centered design started in the military, equipment has to fit and be usable by the humans that operate them–a single standard vest size does not properly fit most people, hence adjustments. Militaries had to conform to humans when they realized humans get PTSD. Militaries had to adapt to mitigate racism as mixed-race units were ultimately the better option–no shit there was pushback on the grounds of distraction and unitncohesion. Tampons were needed when women joined. You trade-off logistical and social complexity for a bigger force and create opportunities to tap into the best of those new populations you include in your military. The US Marines have it right. Improvise, adapt, overcome, then adapt gain.

The question about trans people being mentally unwell is just misinformed. Trans people go on hormone therapy so they aren’t dysphoric. They’re not mentally unstable.

That’s a pretty bigoted stance though. Same mindset that’s led to the US prison system re: criminals, which is exactly what banning people from society is in function. I’m more on the structural rehabilitative side when it comes to addressing harmful anti-social behaviour.