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    1. Are there politics in mathematics?

      Curious if there are movements within the governance or research pertaining to the field that act to promote or suppress certain ideas? Was watching the “Infinity explained in 5 different levels”...

      Curious if there are movements within the governance or research pertaining to the field that act to promote or suppress certain ideas? Was watching the “Infinity explained in 5 different levels” and thought… maybe there are trends for or against interpretations and/or abstractions that get a rise in people…

      33 votes
    2. Superconductor megathread

      Hey everyone, As a few of you may know, there was a paper released a few days ago claiming that an Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor (RTAPS) was created. You can see the original...

      Hey everyone,

      As a few of you may know, there was a paper released a few days ago claiming that an Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor (RTAPS) was created. You can see the original paper here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12008

      To bring things into perspective if this holds true we would likely dispense with energy and transportation concerns. It would be akin to the discovery of fire, penicillin or the transistor. A groundbreaking change. See here for a more detailed, bullish list of things it can help with: https://nitter.net/Andercot/status/1685088625187495936

      There are many communities that are discussing this. The best summary I was able to find is here: https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/claims-of-room-temperature-and-ambient-pressure-superconductor.1106083/page-17

      There is still a very much active debate there (and elsewhere online) of people on the viability of the original people. Many are pessimistic that the evidence is scant and that the original publication does not hold its water. An interesting summary of the sentiment of a part of the community can be found through the (faux) betting market of Manifold here: https://manifold.markets/QuantumObserver/will-the-lk99-room-temp-ambient-pre

      On the link above they are also diligently tracking any replication attempts. Currently we are at the stage were theoretical simulations have validated the possibility of the purported materials to be superconductors (https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.16892).

      Finally, a nice replication attempt that tried to make the creation process better and demonstrated some of the effects required to prove superconductivity (scroll up): https://twitter.com/iris_IGB/status/1685804254718459904

      This is very exciting, because even if some properties are valid, it gives a mjor boost to the whole field.

      143 votes
    3. I interviewed the researcher behind the Misinformation Susceptibility Test

      https://youtu.be/vodNabH5qoM But some important context: Earlier this month I saw a post regarding a Misinformation Susceptibility Test and was curious how 20 binary questions could be an...

      https://youtu.be/vodNabH5qoM
      But some important context:

      Earlier this month I saw a post regarding a Misinformation Susceptibility Test and was curious how 20 binary questions could be an indicator of someones media biases.

      I started digging into the related paper and while the methods and analysis was interesting, there was still a lot of questions. So I reached out to Dr Rakoen Maertens who headed the study and we agreed to a discussion on the assessment and his experiences in social psychology.

      The video above is an unlisted, unedited cut of the interview and I'd love to get some feedback:

      Firstly: I have offered the Dr a tildes invite and he may engage with any questions or discussion. Time was limited and there were a lot of topics that was only briefly touched on or overlooked. Here is the original paper and supplementary resources if you want to see some of the language model work and bigger 100 question tests.

      Secondly: I am going to do a more through edit and posting this on a dedicated channel. Since cutting off reddit, twitter and tiktoc; I've sort of rediscovered a love learning and investigations. I'd like to know if people like this form of engagement and discussions. No fancy production, just simply engaging with the research and academics behind topical and interesting ideas.

      I'm already reading into fandom psychology, UV reflective paint, children's TV and CO2 scrubbing technology.

      72 votes
    4. Is it true that plants begin to consume oxygen around 45°C?

      I used to work with a guy who had three PhD's. (two in Europe, one in the US). He had them in math, chemistry and biology. He said a few fairly outlandish things over the timeframe that I knew...

      I used to work with a guy who had three PhD's. (two in Europe, one in the US). He had them in math, chemistry and biology. He said a few fairly outlandish things over the timeframe that I knew him, but every one I ever dug into it turned out was basically accurate.

      One of the things he mentioned in passing, but which I haven't been able to confirm to my satisfaction is that when plants reach certain high temps, they start producing H2O2 instead of H2O. (around 45 Celcius)

      I've read a few papers that seem to indicate that part at least is true, but I've never found anything that says whether or not this puts plants into the 'consumer' column for oxygen.

      Anyone here able to point me to something that has this answer? or anyone here know the answer, even if it's not specifically been published yet?

      12 votes