disk's recent activity
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Comment on Inside a radioactive 'health' mine in ~health
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
disk LinkAntimatter by Frank Close. It's an excellent book, albeit a bit short, and surprisingly easy to read. It's mainly focused on annihilation, the history of antimatter, and the working principles...Antimatter by Frank Close. It's an excellent book, albeit a bit short, and surprisingly easy to read. It's mainly focused on annihilation, the history of antimatter, and the working principles behind it all. It's rife with metaphors, and much like Elusive, which was also written by Frank, it's an amazing read even if you have some experience with physics.
Additionally, I was reading Concorde on the Haynes Icons manual series. It's also very short, and mostly illustrations, but all technical information is conveyed superbly, and there's very little missing if you're interested in Concorde. Special note to the few pages on transfer tanks, and how fuel was transferred to confer specific flight characteristics at different moments in flight.
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Comment on AI chatbots are people, too. (Except they’re not.) in ~tech
disk (edited )LinkI read the original article (https://academic.oup.com/nc/article/2024/1/niae013/7644104) and I feel it is important to note something from the methodology and results. Consciousness was attributed...I read the original article (https://academic.oup.com/nc/article/2024/1/niae013/7644104) and I feel it is important to note something from the methodology and results. Consciousness was attributed on a sliding scale (0 to 100), based on a definition from a previous study:
As we all know, each of us as conscious human beings have an ‘inner life.’ We are aware of things going on around us and inside our minds. In other words, there is something it is like to be each of us at any given moment: the sum total of what we are sensing, thinking, feeling, etc. We are experiencers.
On the other hand, things like thermostats, burglar alarms, and bread machines do not have an inner life: there is not anything it is like to be these objects, despite the fact that they can monitor conditions around them and make appropriate things happen at appropriate times. They are not experiencers.
Which means that 1 could essentially be a thermostat, and 100 a human (as per examples provided in the study). According to the study's own conclusion:
Overall, our results reveal that a substantial proportion (67%) of people attribute some possibility of phenomenal consciousness to ChatGPT [those who considered ChatGPT to be an experiencer, even if slightly so]
Which does not necessarily equate emotional depth or understanding, but rather the narrow definition of experiencer mentioned above, and even so, to a very limited degree.
The median "experiencer" score was 25, which is still very much under the value attributed to humans (100). However, a couple of respondents gave ChatGPT an experiencer score of 100.
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Comment on Philosopher Slavoj Žižek on 'soft' fascism, AI and the effects of shamelessness in public life in ~humanities
disk (edited )Link ParentMy notion of it is that excess openness is not necessarily complete honesty - you can be "open" and avoid lies whilst still reserving some space to backtrack/manoeuvre around a certain topic....My notion of it is that excess openness is not necessarily complete honesty - you can be "open" and avoid lies whilst still reserving some space to backtrack/manoeuvre around a certain topic. Political hypocrisy was often times a tactic to avoid (well deserved) pushback on ideas which didn't float well with the public, and although undesirable, it demonstrated that politicians were ashamed of what they were doing to some degree, and were ultimately limited on how openly/quickly/strongly they could pursue their goals.
Nowadays, it seems like such pushback has abated, or faulty behaviour is otherwise excused in the name of "well, at least he's being honest about it". A lot of times, overly prosaic straight-to-the-point and open language fails to leave avenues for further communication, and strains political collaboration in the future. Furthermore, it means that politicians are no longer afraid of the ramifications of their actions, and will openly declare them because no system is in place to keep them in check.
For instance, if you're part of a certain party, and you have a long term goal of vanquishing a rival party/demography, you wouldn't be expected to say this out loud. When you say this, you polarise the situation further, your supporters are fired up by your statements, and no meaningful work can be done to attain a compromise. Saying this out loud basically says "we will not leave us any space to backtrack on this, we're making ourselves clear, and we will spare no effort to obtain our goals. Dialogue is now impossible". Although this is part symptom/part indirect cause of our current political situation, this is in no means desirable, at least in my view.
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Comment on How does one learn how to learn? in ~life
disk LinkRepetition is it, mostly! This is how I handle memorising bits of information I can't rationalise my way around. For instance, for citizenship tests, driving tests, or highly theoretical law tests...Repetition is it, mostly! This is how I handle memorising bits of information I can't rationalise my way around. For instance, for citizenship tests, driving tests, or highly theoretical law tests in uni, I would take mock tests over and over, and I'd find that I would be able to remember some oddly specific details.
Same goes for things such as flash cards, I try to catch a glimpse of it, and see how much of it I can memorise in one go. Then I keep going over the same weak spots until I can quickly memorise the most crucial bits, and deduce the other ones from that.
Mnemonics also help, you will probably have to come up with your own, but that's how I do it with languages. Like little songs to remember the sine/cos/tan of 30/45/60 degrees.
The more you're able to "deduce" without memorising it, the better. Once again, sine of 90 degrees is 1, because sine is opposite over hypotenuse, and a 90 degree angle makes a square, so that's 1/1. You're not as quick to get to the result, but it's way easier to remember, and you have a fuller grasp of what you're trying to learn.
Best of luck, though! Sure you'll smash it
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Comment on At what age do you consider someone to be an adult? in ~talk
disk LinkI'm going to say 20. It depends on the country you're from, your lived experiences, and the degree of freedom you have (financial or otherwise). Most of my friends were expected to have full time...I'm going to say 20. It depends on the country you're from, your lived experiences, and the degree of freedom you have (financial or otherwise).
Most of my friends were expected to have full time jobs straight out of school (17-18), and conciliate that with a university degree during the evening. A lot of them also had to support themselves or their families during that time.
By the time I was 20, I was already expected to have a full career lined up, any mistake had real consequences, and any of them were going to be seriously difficult to bounce back from. The moment you can finally start getting your bearings and walk on your own, you're expected to run. I moved out at 18, moved countries at 20, and a lot of my friends/relatives went through similar experiences. I had the added strain of going through significant medical stress/near death experiences before I was 23, so there's that.
The medical definition of adulthood is certainly a thing, but adulthood to me is the moment where if you encounter any serious problems, you are going to be responsible for fixing 90% of it alone. Possibly the moment when you start thinking that "you have all the time in the world" is a reductive lie.
When it comes to developed countries, that may come later, however, and there's no "one-size-fits-all" answer.
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Comment on What’s a book about your area that you think would be interesting to people outside of it? in ~books
disk LinkThe Particle Zoo is an excellent introductory summary of the basics of particle physics, and how our world works on a subatomic level. It's great for people without any formal background in...The Particle Zoo is an excellent introductory summary of the basics of particle physics, and how our world works on a subatomic level. It's great for people without any formal background in physics, and doesn't require any prior understanding of anything but basic classical mechanics/nuclear physics. If you'd like to go further, and you have some knowledge of calculus, The Physics of Particle Accelerators: An Introduction is good and not too theory-heavy.
The Emperor of All Maladies is a brilliant book that dives deep into the pathological mechanisms of cancer, its history, social impact, and future, without being bogged down by the emotional aspects of it. It's a refreshing read, because unlike other books about the subject, it doesn't carry a heavy emotional baggage with it, and doesn't try to speak on the behalf of all cancer patients.
Hobby-wise, I absolutely adore How to Build a Car by championship-winning aerodynamicist and car designer Adrian Newey. It sheds some light into the inner workings of the world of motorsport, and allows us to understand some of the decisions made behind the scenes.
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Comment on What are some accidental life hacks you've stumbled into? in ~talk
disk LinkI used to fidget with a strong magnet around some of my tools, and ended up magnetising the tip of a long-ish metal tool by accident. Turns out it's super useful for reaching tight spots...I used to fidget with a strong magnet around some of my tools, and ended up magnetising the tip of a long-ish metal tool by accident. Turns out it's super useful for reaching tight spots behind/under workbenches, and inside engine bays. Naturally, you can buy a telescopic pen with a magnetic tip for that exact purpose, but in a pinch, you can absolutely magnetise the tip of one of your tools temporarily.
Sodium bicarbonate + boiling water works surprisingly well for removing burnt sugar from the bottom of pans. I added it as I was trying essentially every ingredient in my cupboard, and it worked better than all of them.
Your phone camera is better at capturing aurora borealis than the naked eye is, especially if you mess with the exposure. I pointed my phone at the sky once, to take a picture of the pitch black darkness when there were supposed to be some lights in my area, and turns out I could pick up a faint light display, ever so slightly better than my own eyes could.
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Comment on Two US Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in apparent ‘friendly fire’ incident, US military says in ~news
disk Link ParentAbsolutely, I'm also used to better reporting standards from AP, hence why I linked them first. But this is drawn out for longer than it had to be.Absolutely, I'm also used to better reporting standards from AP, hence why I linked them first. But this is drawn out for longer than it had to be.
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Two US Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in apparent ‘friendly fire’ incident, US military says
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Comment on Portland Airport grows with expansive mass timber roof canopy in ~transport
disk LinkThat's a striking interior by all means! I was interested in figures for durability and resistance in the event of natural disasters, and it seems like this is taken care of: According to a...That's a striking interior by all means! I was interested in figures for durability and resistance in the event of natural disasters, and it seems like this is taken care of:
According to a different article, the terminal was built to withstand a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, which certainly inspires confidence! The new construction will also reduce energy use by 50%, according to the same article
And according to yet another article on the subject of mass timber construction, lifespan can be estimated to be in the order of a 100 years (or more, with adequate moisture-preventing measures).
I sure hope to see more mass timber in future buildings, not only for the ecological aspects of it, but also because it lends itself to a grandiose-but-cozy look! This reminds me of fancy hotel interiors in 70s Yugoslavia.
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Comment on Chinese pebble-bed reactor passes “meltdown” test in ~enviro
disk LinkI'm finding this "return" to gas cooled reactors most interesting. For a very long while, it seemed as if PWRs and other type of water-water reactors were dominant, and some focus was placed on...I'm finding this "return" to gas cooled reactors most interesting. For a very long while, it seemed as if PWRs and other type of water-water reactors were dominant, and some focus was placed on molten salt for a while, but turns out that inert gas cooling is now back in the spotlight.
Super pumped (no pun intended) to see how this will turn out, especially with lower energy density, this could be an important development in small gen IV reactors.
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Comment on How has your industry changed in the past decade? in ~life
disk LinkHopefully not too late to the party, but I work in macromolecular crystallography and adjacent structural biology fields, and one interesting change is how automation has taken over to a degree...Hopefully not too late to the party, but I work in macromolecular crystallography and adjacent structural biology fields, and one interesting change is how automation has taken over to a degree where submitting a crystal/protein/macromolecule is a straightforward, almost Amazon-like process.
Before, you'd have users coming to the facility, inputting experimental parameters, and needing sufficient knowledge on tuning and operating the desired equipment. Nowadays, with automated optical analysis, crystal quality, loop centering and structure solving are "taken care of" instead. So the skill barrier is much lower, and this means that there is less of an incentive to fully understand parametrisation for experiments. It's almost as simple as saying "I have a crystal, I don't know how well it'll diffract, but I'll trust the computer"
We've had users who treat the facility as a "black box" and aren't well informed of the physics behind it, which is all fine and good, but means that we might reach a point where we'll be in short supply of people who can interpret results "manually", instead relying on computers/models/algorithms to do the work.
Another interesting change is scale. Unattended data collection is now much more commonplace, and since robot arms can work 24/7, we can go well over a thousand samples a day, which is unattainable with human-controlled processes (these normally top out at 12 samples/hour, if you're good). This has picked up massively since Covid, given measures for remote operation had to be in place, and it was a natural jump to move to unattended collection.
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Comment on The collapse of self-worth in the digital age in ~health.mental
disk LinkIt's a great article and it summarises what I've been feeling for a long time. I like writing technical articles because I hope they reach someone looking for a specific bit of information and...It's a great article and it summarises what I've been feeling for a long time. I like writing technical articles because I hope they reach someone looking for a specific bit of information and makes their life easier, but I don't have comments or any social media. I have a plain, old-looking website and that's it. That's how I manage to "isolate myself" virtually, and my public online presence is limited to Tildes.
I didn't find a way of summarising why I did what I did, but this is essentially it. The constant pursuit of metrics turns art into an impersonal exercise in maximising interaction, and the ways in which that can be done are not always what resonates with one internally.
Anecdotally, this is one of the reasons I stopped playing videogames, and this is why the lines between work and personal life have become blurred to the point of no distinction for me. Even the things I used to enjoy had to be optimised to such a level where they are genuinely stressful. Plants, cooking, working on electronics, it's beyond frustrating.
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Comment on Why a helium leak disabled every iPhone in a medical facility (2018) in ~tech
disk LinkThat has to go on the list of "most surreal hardware/software faults in history"! Although I was aware that MEMS oscillators could theoretically be impacted by large concentrations of small...That has to go on the list of "most surreal hardware/software faults in history"! Although I was aware that MEMS oscillators could theoretically be impacted by large concentrations of small molecule gasses and high levels of noise, I never thought there would be a situation outside high power fast switching power supply racks, industrial environments that deal with hydrogen/helium (maybe this counts as one), etc. where they would be downright disabled.
Fascinating read! I still think they are well worth the tradeoffs, and noisy/industrial/radiation applications can just stick to crystal oscillators
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Voepass flight 2283 preliminary report released
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Did Sandia use a thermonuclear secondary in a product logo?
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Comment on Weak security defaults enabled Squarespace Domains hijacks of former Google Domains accounts in ~tech
disk LinkThat seems like an early-2000s kind of blunder. The whole situation is appalling, but this is a neat little detailWhat’s more, Monahan said, Squarespace did not require email verification for new accounts created with a password.
That seems like an early-2000s kind of blunder. The whole situation is appalling, but this is a neat little detail
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Inside the tiny chip that powers Montreal subway tickets
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Comment on What are some fun/interesting websites that don't involve news or current events? in ~tech
disk LinkWiby is a search engine for Web 1.0 (basically, early internet) websites, and I can definitely spend some time hitting the "surprise me" button over and over again. You come across websites for...Wiby is a search engine for Web 1.0 (basically, early internet) websites, and I can definitely spend some time hitting the "surprise me" button over and over again. You come across websites for niche interests, personal webpages, directories of useful information for things you didn't even know existed, art projects, so on.
On that note, Defacto2 is a repository of old software, BBS adverts, demoscene stuff, cracking intros, ANSI art, interviews and more. It is more or less a museum of warez culture and everything is neatly organised.
One of my favourite "small" websites is the Digital Museum of Plugs and Sockets, which does a fairly good job at keeping track of different plug, socket and electrical standards all across the world. It's not horribly technical and it can provide lots of amusement even if you don't have lots of electrics knowledge.
Abandoned Southeast is a blog dedicated to documenting abandoned buildings in the American Southeast, often providing not only pictures, but also a glimpse of the historical significance of that building in the form of a short "context" paragraph.
That's a good read! Even outside radon mines, there has been a pique in interest with regards to radiation hormesis as of recently. Although I don't fully agree with the linear no-threshold model, I can't say I often entertain the thought of low doses of radiation being potentially beneficial.
It's worth exploring though, even if to find out it does not have any positive effects. There's some literature claiming it's better than a placebo but the results aren't exactly conclusive.