TeaBrain (u/TeaBrain)

TeaBrain commented on Google: 'Your $1000 phone needs our permission to install apps now' [video] youtube.com/watch?v=QBEKl... · Posted by u/robtherobber

mathiaspoint · 5 months ago

Don't use smartphones at all, they're only bad for you and you don't need them. Do anything you can to either get away from them or start moving away from them.

TeaBrain · 5 months ago

I've recently eaten at several restaurants where the menus were only available via a link reachable from a QR code. At the last place, I asked if the 13 page menus were available in physical form and the waiter explained that they didn't have any. Technically, a phone doesn't need to be that "smart" to reach a QR code and access a web page, but it's just one more way that people are being locked into using phones for tasks that previously didn't require them.

TeaBrain commented on More women than expected are genetically men (2016) novonordiskfonden.dk/en/n... · Posted by u/pavel_lishin

blueflow · 7 months ago

The state of the universe (including biological facts) has no intentions, i don't know what you are trying to say here or what else you would mean when you say "Intention". It sounds like the sayings of someone who believes in an higher order of things.

TeaBrain · 7 months ago

Once again, this absurdist interpretation of what I spelled out, based on taking one word out of context, is in bad faith.

TeaBrain commented on More women than expected are genetically men (2016) novonordiskfonden.dk/en/n... · Posted by u/pavel_lishin

blueflow · 7 months ago

Who felt this intention? God?

TeaBrain · 7 months ago

I'm referring to how genes modulate development according to their set of instructions. The way that these genetic instructions are set to be executed can be considered their intention. I'm being liberal in my use of the word "intention" here, but I don't think your absurdist take on my wording was in good faith, so to speak, or constructive.

TeaBrain commented on More women than expected are genetically men (2016) novonordiskfonden.dk/en/n... · Posted by u/pavel_lishin

realo · 7 months ago

I know all that. Sorry for the too subtle cynism of my previous comment!

TeaBrain · 7 months ago

The comment was more farcical and off-topic than it was cynical or subtle.

TeaBrain commented on More women than expected are genetically men (2016) novonordiskfonden.dk/en/n... · Posted by u/pavel_lishin

neallindsay · 7 months ago

> …as intended.

Genes and biology in general do not have "intended" purposes.

TeaBrain · 7 months ago

Genes are what define the instructions guiding biological development and so could be considered to be what defines the intention. With Morris syndrome, factors prevent the genetic instructions from guiding development as defined by the genes. With Morris syndrome, the lack of androgen receptors leads to the genetic sexual development, as guided by the genes, of a male to be suppressed. Swyer syndrome also commonly arises from spontaneous mutations (not being passed from parental genetic material) and can have malignant consequences. A large percentage of those with the condition develop gonadoblastoma.

TeaBrain commented on Signs of autism could be encoded in the way you walk sciencealert.com/signs-of... · Posted by u/amichail

throwawaymaths · 7 months ago

weightlifting yes, but not most track and field. It's pretty common for dancers to say "you should be able to slip a sheet of paper under the heel" for example. Pretty sure that's the case in tennis too.

here's a stock photo of a runner:

https://images.stockcake.com/public/7/1/2/7124d219-0531-40c1...

and here's one of volleyball:

https://www.games-eshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/web.s...

TeaBrain · 7 months ago

As a former competitive tennis player, moving the weight to the balls of the foot is recommended when in a ready stance, or when actively shuffling. It isn't something that would be expected when walking.

TeaBrain commented on What's happening to reading? newyorker.com/culture/ope... · Posted by u/Kaibeezy

easterncalculus · 7 months ago

Comparison is not metaphor. Ironically metaphor is actually something LLMs are somewhat adept at picking up on provided there's enough training data saying there's a metaphor there, for a seminal work.

TeaBrain · 7 months ago

Whatever you may wish to call it, simile or metaphor, it's a little silly to complain about it being referred to as a metaphor, considering that similes are a subset of metaphor, even if they often aren't taught this way to children. Also, in common speech and literature, what would be taught as similes to children are almost universally just referred to as metaphors.

TeaBrain commented on Five companies now control over 90% of the restaurant food delivery market marketsaintefficient.subs... · Posted by u/goinggetthem

morsch · 7 months ago

I don't understand, are you saying the market was so small that it might as well not have existed? I don't have the impression that it's gotten magnitudes bigger here in Germany, maybe in China it did (what hasn't), in the US...? People just use the web instead of using a phone. AT&T didn't charge a commission.

TeaBrain · 7 months ago

>are you saying the market was so small that it might as well not have existed?

They're saying that the space these companies are competing in literally did not exist. It didn't in the US, maybe not 15 years ago, but 20 years ago it was nonexistent.

TeaBrain commented on Reading Neuromancer for the first time in 2025 mbh4h.substack.com/p/neur... · Posted by u/keiferski

saturneria · 7 months ago

In the 70s/80s, the jobs that were available to you were basically what your family member could "get you in". I am of that age and I remember General Motors was a great place to work at that time. My friend "got in" after high school because his father was a union boss. For me, "getting in" to General Motors was literally impossible because I had no connections.

I was into 90s cyberpunk and the problem was the ideas were basically all wrong about the internet. Or maybe we could have gone in another direction with the internet but didn't.

The main difference overall though is in the past life was incredibly boring. It was so boring people had to invent all these cultural activities to escape the disconnected, mind numbing boredom of existence.

Life today is just much more interesting regardless of finances so there isn't the motivation to hang out at goth bar once a week.

TeaBrain · 7 months ago

>In the 70s/80s, the jobs that were available to you were basically what your family member could "get you in"

Perhaps this may have been true for those who didn't have a university degree. Otherwise, this experience doesn't line up with anyone in my family.