R3qn65's recent activity
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Comment on What do folks carry in their hiking/backpacking/camping first aid kits these days? in ~hobbies
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Comment on Tildes Survey #4: What languages can you speak? (Results) in ~talk
R3qn65 Link ParentAh, okay. Yes, I agree in principle. I was a bit thrown off at first because I hadn't blamed the Russian people for the existence of Stalin, but I get that you're commenting on general views and...Ah, okay. Yes, I agree in principle. I was a bit thrown off at first because I hadn't blamed the Russian people for the existence of Stalin, but I get that you're commenting on general views and maybe not necessarily what I said.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #4: What languages can you speak? (Results) in ~talk
R3qn65 Link ParentI'm not sure what you mean here. Would you mind expanding?Especially with Stalin specifically, it's hard to pin his actions on some fundamental feature of Russian culture or society, given the divergence of his approach to Ukrainian famine compared to the man who was originally responsible for mobilizing Russian society en masse, Lenin. Russians could be faulted for failing to intervene against a brutal strongman, but they definitely wouldn't be alone in facing that criticism.
I'm not sure what you mean here. Would you mind expanding?
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Comment on Tildes Survey #4: What languages can you speak? (Results) in ~talk
R3qn65 (edited )Link ParentI believe it is, though I appreciate the nuance in your comment. Moscow was the Soviet Union, in much the same way that Paris is France or London is England. That's not true in a literal sense,...I believe it is, though I appreciate the nuance in your comment. Moscow was the Soviet Union, in much the same way that Paris is France or London is England. That's not true in a literal sense, obviously, but it is true in terms of the cultural/political center of gravity. (The USSR was spawned from the ashes of the Russian Empire). For that reason the other Soviet socialist republics just didn't hold a candle to Russia (Moscow) in terms of importance or influence, and that's reflected today in the fact that Russia is the primary inheritor of the USSR's legacy. Russia still dominates the CIS (the successor organization) and still treats the other members like vassals, not equals. Russians are much more likely to bemoan the collapse of the Soviet Union than other former Soviet peoples.
To that point, Stalin, Trotsky, and Brezhnev were all born to the Russian Empire. They identified as Russians (though Stalin was ethnically Georgian, yes), not independent peoples. I think that underscores the point more than undermining it.
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Comment on Square peg in a round hole: airpower against mobile targets and missiles in ~society
R3qn65 LinkThis was super good! Another example, I think, would be HIMARS in Ukraine. Most accounts hold that Russia has only managed to destroy about 5-6 out of ~40 over the course of years of ground war.This was super good! Another example, I think, would be HIMARS in Ukraine. Most accounts hold that Russia has only managed to destroy about 5-6 out of ~40 over the course of years of ground war.
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Comment on What do folks carry in their hiking/backpacking/camping first aid kits these days? in ~hobbies
R3qn65 (edited )LinkTorniquets are interesting. The US's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq allowed for the first modern large-scale statistical examinations of trauma medicine. The studies done during that time showed...Torniquets are interesting. The US's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq allowed for the first modern large-scale statistical examinations of trauma medicine. The studies done during that time showed that blood loss was the #1 cause of preventable battlefield death and that previous beliefs about tourniquets (that they basically guaranteed limb loss) were unfounded. So from that standpoint, having a tourniquet (and knowing how to apply it) is often a good idea. A modern tourniquet is the absolute best way to stop massive bleeding on the limbs. On the other hand, it's hiking, you know? It's definitely not impossible to sustain a hemorrhagic injury while hiking (compound fracture of the femur from a fall could sever the artery), but it's not particularly likely. Vastly more likely are blisters, stings, etc. So it's sort of a personal choice based on weight, experience, etc. It makes more sense to keep one in the car than in your backpack. (Crushing a limb in a car accident is actually likely).
Personally, I do carry a tourniquet, as well as a shapable splint, but also the actually useful stuff.
Wound packing materials, which are used to stop massive bleeding in the torso, are silly to bring unless you expect the trees to shoot at you. Again, not impossible to suffer that sort of injury (you could theoretically fall and get impaled on a tree branch or something) but it's so unlikely that at that point you should make peace with the fact that God hates you and wants you dead. QuikClot won't save you from His wrath.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #4: What languages can you speak? (Results) in ~talk
R3qn65 Link ParentIf you zoom way, way out maybe, but Russia's relationship with other former Soviet countries was, even then (it's worse now), way more fraught than the US's relationship with Canada. The US never...So, sort of like the American relationship with Canada I'd imagine. Some tensions, but because the cultures are so similar and it was a time of peace, the smaller country just accepted that the larger one with more resources would set the agenda for the common culture.
If you zoom way, way out maybe, but Russia's relationship with other former Soviet countries was, even then (it's worse now), way more fraught than the US's relationship with Canada. The US never ruled Canada. Most Americans don't believe themselves to be culturally superior to Canadians. The US never intentionally starved millions of Canadians to death.[1]
It's really difficult to put into words, but there's a sense of really heavy baggage between former Soviet countries that doesn't really exist between America and the rest of the anglosphere.
[1] whether the holodomor was intentional is still a disputed question, but the point here is that the ukrainians almost universally believe that it was.
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Comment on The US campaign to turn healthy people into Alzheimer’s patients in ~health.mental
R3qn65 (edited )Link ParentThe most dangerous theories always seem to have marvelous explanatory power on the surface, but often fall apart at closer examination. For example, it would be easy to assume that the Bolivian...Now, if you go and add that, coincidentally, the people who live in the hottest places on earth happen to have the lowest rates of Alzheimer's, that I will also believe.
The human mind is adept at making sense out of that which is later realized to be false, and many errors have been made in this fashion. But the hypothesis has marvelous explanatory power, no?
The most dangerous theories always seem to have marvelous explanatory power on the surface, but often fall apart at closer examination. For example, it would be easy to assume that the Bolivian rainforest is hot because that would seem to fit our theory so nicely. But I might suggest you Google the average temperatures in the Bolivian rainforest. Not even close to the hottest place on earth and in fact it's kind of chilly through winter. Texas is much hotter. Southern Spain is much hotter. Southern Italy. Most of Pakistan. All of the middle east. Etc etc. All of these places are much hotter and yet have vastly more Alzheimer's than the tribes in Bolivia.
Same thing with the guy who worked in the engine room. Sure, it seems to fit, but what if his engine room history is completely unrelated and it just sounds good? What if he's got some sort of genetic mutation that's the actual cause of his resistance? It's the same potentially with the saunaing Finns, and basically everything else.
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Comment on A start-up aiming to make geothermal energy mainstream goes public in ~enviro
R3qn65 LinkThat is awesome. Super cool to see companies pushing the boundaries.That is awesome. Super cool to see companies pushing the boundaries.
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Comment on Gemini 3.2 Flash rumored to hit 92% of GPT-5.5 performance at lower cost in ~tech
R3qn65 Link ParentAll the paid models are close enough to one another that there's not really a wrong choice. That's especially true since you're (presumably) going to be using it for everyday tasks and not...All the paid models are close enough to one another that there's not really a wrong choice. That's especially true since you're (presumably) going to be using it for everyday tasks and not something like coding or mathematical reasoning.
Personally I would recommend you follow in your niece's footsteps and get Claude. But any of the paid models will be just fine for your purposes.
To answer your question about benchmarks - not really useful to regular people. Not directly, anyway. It matters because it has follow-on effects, but for the purposes of this discussion it doesn't matter.
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Comment on The US campaign to turn healthy people into Alzheimer’s patients in ~health.mental
R3qn65 Link ParentCharles pillar wrote this article as well. Maybe you knew that - couldn't quite tell from your comment.Charles pillar wrote this article as well. Maybe you knew that - couldn't quite tell from your comment.
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Comment on Why is it so hard to get an ADHD diagnosis? How do you find a good psychologist? in ~health.mental
R3qn65 LinkI'm not a psychiatrist and cannot judge whether you have ADHD, anxiety, or neither. I'm also not Romanian and have no idea what social stigmas there might be that could influence your doctors. I...I'm not a psychiatrist and cannot judge whether you have ADHD, anxiety, or neither. I'm also not Romanian and have no idea what social stigmas there might be that could influence your doctors. I do want to note, though, that feeling like you want to do something and being unable to can 100% be a symptom of anxiety. Anxiety is not always a state of worry at the front of your mind. It can manifest in other ways too (avoidance, paralysis, etc.)
It sounds like you had a really frustrating experience and I sympathize. I think it's worth at least considering whether anxiety might be involved here, though.
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Comment on The US campaign to turn healthy people into Alzheimer’s patients in ~health.mental
R3qn65 Link ParentOh, it's fine, you're completely right. "It's more complicated than that" was my implied point and you helped make it more explicit.Oh, it's fine, you're completely right. "It's more complicated than that" was my implied point and you helped make it more explicit.
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Comment on The US campaign to turn healthy people into Alzheimer’s patients in ~health.mental
R3qn65 Link ParentI'm not trying to disprove the HSP hypothesis. My point is that you're committing the exact same error that you criticize in the B amyloid theory: oversimplifying, coming up with theoretical...I'm not trying to disprove the HSP hypothesis. My point is that you're committing the exact same error that you criticize in the B amyloid theory: oversimplifying, coming up with theoretical causal mechanisms to explain an observational effect, and generalizing from quite limited studies. The HSP theory may well have elements of truth, but if so it needs to be experimentally tested and we need to be able to answer why there's so much Alzheimer's in populations that already sauna heavily, in exactly the same way that the B amyloid theory needs to be able to answer why some people have huge amounts of B amyloid buildup but no Alzheimer's.
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Comment on The US campaign to turn healthy people into Alzheimer’s patients in ~health.mental
R3qn65 (edited )Link ParentYes, of course. I'm not trying to disprove the HSP hypothesis. My point is that it's more complicated than "the B amyloid hypothesis is false... But we've figured it out how to fix it! It's saunaing!"Yes, of course. I'm not trying to disprove the HSP hypothesis. My point is that it's more complicated than "the B amyloid hypothesis is false... But we've figured it out how to fix it! It's saunaing!"
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Comment on The US campaign to turn healthy people into Alzheimer’s patients in ~health.mental
R3qn65 (edited )Link ParentI think a lot of people are conflating "there's more to the story than just B amyloid" (certainly true) with "the amyloid hypothesis is debunked!" (probably overstated). More specifically, that's...I think a lot of people are conflating "there's more to the story than just B amyloid" (certainly true) with "the amyloid hypothesis is debunked!" (probably overstated).
Conversely, I was surprised to learn that the production of heat shock proteins from high temperature exposure is correlated with lowered Alzheimer's incidence.
More specifically, that's a theoretical mechanism. What we can actually say is that saunaing (among certain populations, etc etc) is correlated with lower AD incidence, and HSP is a reasonably plausible theory suggesting why. But exercise is also linked to lower AD incidence, and so the benefit of sauna might just be the elevated heart rate and have nothing to do with HSP at all. The evidence supporting the B amyloid hypothesis - even accounting for the questionable stuff - is much, much stronger than the evidence supporting the "it's all HSP!" hypothesis.
I know you were being a bit glib, but if the treatment for AD was just "sauna!" we would've already figured it out, because nobody in all of Finland would have AD. And they do. Ironically, in fact, Finns suffer from AD at disproportionately high rates - the highest mortality rate from AD in the world.
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Comment on How I feel about LLM (AI) writing in ~tech
R3qn65 Link ParentI don't really disagree with anything you wrote, but as a small note of hope, I don't think that most people are fine or even indifferent. It's more that it doesn't take much effort to prompt and...But I guess most people are fine replacing that with homogeneous undifferentiated slop.
I don't really disagree with anything you wrote, but as a small note of hope, I don't think that most people are fine or even indifferent. It's more that it doesn't take much effort to prompt and post AI slop, so the people doing that can easily overwhelm any forum's immune system. Though... Yeah, people don't actually read past the headline. That's not new with AI, but it's definitely worse now.
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Comment on When Richard Dawkins met Claude in ~health.mental
R3qn65 Link ParentCan you expand on what you mean by this? My understanding is that even researchers in the field consider LLMs a black box. See for example this paper, which has been cited over 1400 times....Because I understand the algorithms being used?
Can you expand on what you mean by this? My understanding is that even researchers in the field consider LLMs a black box. See for example this paper, which has been cited over 1400 times. Obviously that doesn't mean that nobody understands anything about how LLMs work. Like you, I could give a reasonably detailed explanation of the vector math and so on. But there are clearly elements that we don't understand, much like humans can explain how the human brain works in fantastic detail but the gestalt still escapes us.
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Comment on From neat lawns to wild havens: how No Mow May is transforming England’s gardens in ~enviro
R3qn65 Link ParentI think we're on the way there! It's increasingly common to see nice suburban houses with intentionally wild (but still shaped) yards, whereas even a few years ago that would've been unthinkable.It would be nice if that trend could be bucked, and there was more of a movement to let your property harbor natural species while also caring for it. I think that would go a long way towards breaking the perfectly mowed lawn expectation.
I think we're on the way there! It's increasingly common to see nice suburban houses with intentionally wild (but still shaped) yards, whereas even a few years ago that would've been unthinkable.
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Comment on A Dialogue on Freedom in ~humanities
R3qn65 Link ParentI should've asked first what you find the comic convincing of. If it's that Nozick specifically was wrong, then okay we agree on everything. I agree he was an extreme libertarian whose absolutist...I should've asked first what you find the comic convincing of. If it's that Nozick specifically was wrong, then okay we agree on everything. I agree he was an extreme libertarian whose absolutist philosophy can be challenged with the property monster. What did you find it particularly convincing of?
I don't know, man. Especially if you're the one injured, a CAT is way, way easier to apply than an improvised tourniquet. That goes double or triple if you're not very well-trained. Not sure if you've ever had the chance to try to stop bleeding with an improvised tourniquet, but it's hard. Your windlass slips, your folds aren't perfect so the bandage is all screwy, it freaking sucks. By contrast the CAT is almost error-proof. That's especially true when you're talking about having to move the patient afterwards (again, even worse if it's you). Improvised TQs slip, come undone, etc.