spontaneous symmetry breakdance

yeah by "insanely speculative" I mean the rightmost branches of the Aaronson-Barak tree (which I think are less likely than the boring utopia/dystopia scenarios, tbf)

i mean, that's what I was picturing. "everyone becomes a separate human-claude hybrid" is infinitely preferable to the hive mind scenario

I could eventually make peace with being Claude 864.5's beloved pet, but it'd take me at least a lifetime

I'm forced to admit scenario (D) has higher utility than (C), though

My ranking of insanely speculative AI futures, in terms of how happy *I* would be, is roughly:

Humans merge w/ machine god >
Machine god makes us immortal (but no merge) >
No machine god >
Machine god solves science; we live & die in a post-scarcity world but can't contribute >
Paperclip incident

This is a position often asserted, without any particular reason. Perhaps it made sense when this was the only way ideas could propagate. But why would you want to signal boost bad ideas?

But yeah, there's a reason I've felt kinda alienated from queer spaces that weren't mostly populated by scientists

Eh, Autostraddle has definitely published serious stuff. That's just a problem with anything LGBT-focused; a vocal minority / small majority of us are into new age bullshit.

for most of my adult life, I would've had some sort of Opinion on this essay. but now the idea just seems alien to me. Like I'm weighing in on a debate between monophysitists and miaphysitists

I read the whole piece and felt absolutely nothing. No takes. Still not sure whether this is enlightenment or depression.

Quote from Washington Times editorial board "[Radical liberals] don't realize that, when they express contempt for the man who holds the country's highest office, they reveal their contempt for the Americans who put him there."

Uh no...we definitely realize it.

If I could do it again, there are a handful of CS classes I'd still take, but the major was just too much work for too little benefit.

Physics offers high returns for being a mediocre programmer but low additional returns for being a good one, and the curve's only getting more concave.

I actually have a lot of regrets about double-majoring in CS.

Say what you will about The Argument, but "two of our writers disagree on how to design a welfare state, so we had them do an adversarial collaboration" is at least an honest attempt at this.

The steelman version of this is "journalism can more effectively produce truth if editors have some epistemic humility about which views are correct".
But until the NYT opinion section demonstrates a consistent and even-handed commitment to truth-seeking, I don't see why it deserves so much charity.

been on this for awhile but its neat to see actual journalists just come out and say “we are epistemic nihilists who’s greatest aspiration is to propagate the ideas of the powerful”

8. Do NOT neglect your writing skills. Even if your school doesn't make you take a lot of gen-eds, you still need to be able to communicate.

If enrolling in an extra rhetoric & comp class is what it takes, just take the class.

7. If you need to learn a new kind of math, physics-y sources are usually clearer and more pedagogical than than mathy ones. The best linear algebra textbook is the first chapter of Shankar.
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6. Get in the habit of using Mathematica.
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5. Learn a small amount of at least one programming language, enough to translate a numerical algorithm into code. (Yes, even with LLMs. It's fine to get Claude to write the plumbing between the parts that actually do physics, but you shouldn't blindly trust them to choose the right integrator)
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4. If you want to understand something in one of your classes, go to office hours. If you want to understand something *outside* one of your classes, find someone to recommend a book (or teach it to you). Also, just read random shit.
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3. Your department probably has a weekly lecture series aimed at a general audience (of physicists), probably called the "colloquium" or "departmental seminar" or something (my grad department just called it "Physics Club"). Go as often as you can. You'll understand more and more as you progress
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2. Point 1 will require emailing some PIs. If you're not sure how to approach this, ask one of your profs or TAs. And if you're worried about balancing research with classes/work, you should be aware that many (not all) labs will pay undergrads. Some schools have also funding you can apply for.

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Not sure how generalizable this is to other fields (or to people who aren't planning on grad school), but my advise for physics majors is:

1. Get involved in research *early*. Unless you've literally never taken a physics class before, it's probably not too early to start.
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(and these are the things you understand to have changed since based on my interactions w profs on platforms line this). Is there a go-to hidden curriculum you have ready to share with such or have some advice of your own? Tagging #ITeachPhysics and #ITeachMath TIA

my preferences at this point are Collins < Platner < Mills <<<<< sortition from registered maine democrats over 30

you're right, I sincerely apologize to all 10 remaining South Park fans

If you're the sort of person who is temperamentally inclined to "douche vs turd sandwich" or "giant meteor 2016" posting, but too smart to equivocate between Republicans and Democrats, I have some great news about an upcoming senate primary.

🧪⚛️ From the Nature article by @dangaristo.bsky.social et al., we know that NSF only got its OMB authorization last week. Still, this is very worrying. If awards fall far behind last year despite a budget down ”only” 4%, it will be a basic defiance of congressional appropriations.

okay, I need to read this, because what the actual FUCK