boondoggle16 (u/boondoggle16)

boondoggle16 commented on When did people stop being drunk all the time? lefineder.substack.com/p/... · Posted by u/prismatic

century19 · 3 years ago

You'd need to define that something special, else you sound really racist. More likely Europe stumbled on a couple of things such as reading glasses (that gave much longer working lives to scientists) or the steam engine that gave an advantage.

boondoggle16 · 3 years ago

>You'd need to define that something special, else you sound really racist.

...I think that says more about you than me.

boondoggle16 commented on Where did our belief in abundance come from? discoursemagazine.com/abu... · Posted by u/elsewhen

hnbad · 3 years ago

> the social sciences are viewed with contempt by the real scientists and engineers

They're not. They're viewed by contempt by techies with overinflated egos who don't realize that when looking at complex systems outside their area of expertise they're like junior developers coming into a legacy project guffawing at the needless complexity because they don't yet grasp the unwritten requirements that created the scar tissue they see as bad craftmanship.

Actual "real scientists" and "real engineers" understand that the social sciences are amongst the most complex of sciences because they don't have the liberty to run isolated experiments in a vacuum, run simulations and test assumptions with a pen and paper because their field of study encompasses the complexity of the entire human brain and its interaction with everything around us.

Sure, there are thousands and possibly millions of hacks in those fields but there are also thousands and millions of hacks in STEM. Imagine having your entire field judged on the musings and performance of the worst techie you know.

boondoggle16 · 3 years ago

>hnbad

boondoggle16 commented on Where did our belief in abundance come from? discoursemagazine.com/abu... · Posted by u/elsewhen

casefields · 3 years ago

The fertility of nearly all nations has slowed beyond replacement. Your concern would be valid if we were on pace to feed a quadrillion people but we aren’t.

boondoggle16 · 3 years ago

Not in Africa. The plan is to have billions of Africans migrate to Europe to do the work instead, due to the climate crisis.

When they get to Europe, they are going to expect the same quality of life that Europeans have historically enjoyed. So, just because Europeans aren't reproducing, doesn't mean that they aren't being superseded by a new group of materialist consumers.

boondoggle16 commented on When did people stop being drunk all the time? lefineder.substack.com/p/... · Posted by u/prismatic

bromuro · 3 years ago

Yet these stimulants were already consumed in other places in the world - before the europeans. why no Renaissance there? Or yes it had?

boondoggle16 · 3 years ago

There is something really special about European development. Chinese history is absolutely fascinating with a lot of super cool inventions, but nothing stands close to European history and it's power.

boondoggle16 commented on Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools theguardian.com/world/202... · Posted by u/obscurette

theshrike79 · 3 years ago

It's like prohibition, the forbidden fruit. Denial will only increase the want. It's better to teach moderation early than it is to try to curb the want for 7+ years.

My kid has had an iPad from age 1 or so, with kiosk mode enabled and a baby game that made funny noises when they slapped the screen.

They got a phone at age 7, just before starting first grade. No Youtube, no TikTok and screen time enforced per category and per program. The only one I "cheated" the age with was WhatsApp, because it's the default communication tool over here.

It's about 5 years later and I've still managed to keep them off Youtube by giving more screen time in Netflix/Disney+/our PBS equivalent etc, where the content is actually produced and not some youtube elsagate horror show or a screaming influencer hawking off whatever a sponsor is telling them to sell this week.

At this point asking for screen time with good grounds is a habit for the kid: "Homework is done and I read The Trials of Morrigan Crow for 30 minutes, can I get screen time?" It's also used mostly for background noise, iPad is on a stand somewhere with a random show running and they're drawing or doing some crafts while it's playing.

The rule we follow is that every 15 minute slot spent reading (comics or books) is given out double as screen time.

boondoggle16 · 3 years ago

That really doesn't sound healthy. Babies need real interaction, they don't need to slap a screen and make funny noises. Screens are flat, they have no texture.

Sadly, babies which are underexposed to stimuli often display developmental delays compared to peers.

boondoggle16 commented on OpenAI shuts down its AI Classifier due to poor accuracy decrypt.co/149826/openai-... · Posted by u/cbowal

klabb3 · 3 years ago

It’s a law of nature that pepperoni thieves cannot take a job at a pizza place. They are forever doomed to be delivery guys.

boondoggle16 · 3 years ago

This is actually kinda true with doordash etc. Those drivers are completely unvetted, they don't even have an interview.

The kind of people that can't get a job at a pizza place.

Personally, I never order delivery through these services. The incentives are all wrong. Not to mention the costs are super high: restaurants don't make any money, I pay out the @$$, and the drivers are given sub-minimum-wage pay after taking on the risks of delivery driving.

boondoggle16 commented on A forthcoming collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation nature.com/articles/s4146... · Posted by u/wawayanda

xg15 · 3 years ago

Evolution has nothing to do with life? What? How would you define evolution then?

boondoggle16 · 3 years ago

Continual selection of entities which survive. For example, sand is the natural evolved substrate of beaches. Shells get ground into sand, anything heavier sinks to the bottom of the ocean.

boondoggle16 commented on A forthcoming collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation nature.com/articles/s4146... · Posted by u/wawayanda

californical · 3 years ago

It’s definitely not subject to evolutionary pressure of any sort, because the earth is completely indifferent to life.

boondoggle16 · 3 years ago

I'm not understanding, your statement reads like a non-sequitur to me. Evolution has nothing to do with life.