How silly. As though there are gangs of teenagers throughout the country that can’t get “banned” books, whatever that means, despite having the freaking internet, and books being basically free. As though they’re living in communist China or something! Kids can buy these books, and get all sorts of other vile pornographic material online well before their teenage years. Local school boards are not the CCP and they have different liabilities, funding sources and constituencies than public libraries. Signaling likes this needs to be mocked or we end up with purity spirals. There is no problem being solved by this, just adults acting out a larp to feel like the saviors of “literature.” Why not actually save literature by promoting the reading of great books? There’s plenty of sex and debauchery in Shakespeare, even for Brooklyn kids like Howard Bloom (rip).
Ah yes the old fallacy: science or spirituality. Obviously can’t have both as that would require more complicated thought processes than you can fathom. This is a common stumbling block for fledgling minds. Reality is, our best scientists were and to a large extent continue to be Christians. But be dumb and feel superior all you want. You will have plenty of company. Meanwhile, my company will be these people:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christians_in_scienc...
Am I the only one who finds tv network fanboyism bizarre? I can see having a preference for news source, but to spend personal time promoting a news channel seems like a peculiar affectation. “Go #CBS news! #andersoncooper”
“Don't know of its my opinion of the field or the journal but i don't rate the lancet”
Lol. It’s every field! Unless you live under a rock you’ve heard terms like p hacking, publication bias, publish or perish and in and on. All a manifestation of the glaring problems in higher education.
If you uniquely don’t trust the lancet, you’re doing it wrong. Be skeptical of all research until it’s been replicated a bunch, ideally by your own research team.
“link between sodium intake above a certain level and heart disease in a previously healthy individual”
I know this is common knowledge but could you provide any recent studies or citations for curious readers? Anything from the past 5 years? I could never understand how they factor in body weight and physical activity, which should change the recommended levels. Someone who sweats a lot because of intense exercise might need sodium above that limit. Or if you drank more water than average, etc…
I predict this changing in 5 years or less, as demand increases and the profit potential attracts new money. Hope I’m wrong about that, because as you say there’s so much untapped potential value for a bunch of disparate, but critically important fields.
Twitter has a lot in common with writing poetry. I think it can be a good practice, depending on one’s goals. But I agree with your general point about reading a lot. I think it’s important to read a lot of different styles/genres: fiction, academic writing, journalism, old stuff, new stuff, translations, great literature in various languages, ad copy, so on. Most good writing is about conforming/mimicry and being especially considerate of the reader. Exceptional writing is a different thing. A lot of bad writing comes from regular people trying to write exceptionally. It’s hard to learn to write dumber, but thankfully the internet lets us all practice a bunch. Whether we like it or not, most people prefer Stephen king to Henry James or Proust.
Yes. Jeff Bezos is an unsung hero and has done more to help the poor than anyone. Without him, there would be massive unemployment and an underclass riddled with social problems like opiate addiction and spousal abuse.
Maybe there is a moderate position here between, censorship is not a problem and “it’s a big problem.”
Something can be uncommon, but still be a big problem for the individual impacted. In higher education, there has been a legitimate trend in professors getting terminated, and it’s discussed in places like the chronicle of higher education, and written about by very middle of the road progressives like Stephen Pinker. I don’t think it’s the only problem our universities must solve, and defenestration isn’t a new thing, but it matters by degrees (no pun).
Ad hom is pushed by the media because “small minds talk about people,” and that sells ads/clicks. Another example beyond personal fanboyism is the vilification of a person which surpasses rationality. Or the vilification of other groups of people. In all of these you will see fundamental attribution error, ignoring the situational factors and placing all perceived agency on the individual, like most all of our media were doing from 2016-2020. The reality is, few humans are all that important in and of themselves, and those that are often have become so as the result of external factors like the quality of the people that surround them, or “luck.”
Some psychedelics are more unpredictable than others, and incidentally these seem to be the ones that are hyped the most. LSD is much more predictable than mushrooms for instance, and is well researched partially because of that. The seems generally true for synthetic vs naturally occurring substances across the board, though there are plenty of horrible synthetic drugs like bath salts, synthetic weed. Advocates seem favor this as it allows them a no true Scotsman defense. “You didn’t get real ayauasca”, or with cannabis the hand wavey talk of the “entourage effect.” The biggest problem facing psychedelic research are the researchers involved. They have little credibility, almost like that’s their intention.
It’s easier to market “psychedelics” than meditation, prayer or something like DBT. We should learn from that and try to make more things as popular as psychedelics. “Put this little square of paper on your tongue” is much less of an ask than “sit in chair for 30 minutes everyday and be mindful of your breathing.” It’s like the McDonald’s approach to mental health, and who doesn’t love McDonald’s! Over a billion served. Psychedelics scale similarly.
Autocorrelation is much more interesting, and much more important topic than dk, which mostly seems to be popular concept because it supports biases and other fallacious, ego driven thinking. Autocorrelation is an under-appreciated problem, particularly in the social sciences and Econ. So it’s nice to use dk to catch the attention of the masses to spread the word about autocorrelation.
I’m all for this but part of me gets a very “Brave New World” vibe. Are we all going to have to micodose shrooms to tolerate our prosperous progressive society? It’s seeming increasingly likely.
The need for stricter border security is well established. When our borders are not secure as one political party tends to favor, poor Mexicans die and drug cartels gain money and power. Maybe a fence along with other measures, increasing patrols, harsher penalties, is actually the most humane solution to Mexican drug cartel problem?
“The ability to entertain multiple, seemingly contradictory thoughts at once is a good skill I think.”
Unfortunately large portions of the populace see this as being phony. You must be a red or blue team person, being “people without a tribe” is itself a heresy because by not conforming to this idiotic false dichotomy denies the simpletons and partisans their fallacious little world views. Socrates died in vein, I suppose.
If nothing else instruments play differently in different keys. Horn players like certain b flat, guitarists love g, tuning a stringed instrument higher or lower changes the feel. But I am not convinced 440hz is the same as 500hz etc, on the physiological level.
Spinal tap got it right: d minor is the saddest key. I think Reiner was riffing on christian Schubart, from google:
“D minor, wrote Schubart, is a key of “melancholy womanliness, the spleen and humours brood.” He actually found D#minor to be sadder. It is the key, he wrote “of brooding despair, of blackest depresssion, of the most gloomy condition of the soul.”
Who can afford to move every year with rent inflation at 25 yoy? Clearly you aren’t living in the gilded state with its luxurious rent control provisions.