WoodScientist
@WoodScientist@lemmy.world
- Comment on Big Brother just got an upgrade. Starting December, Amazon’s Ring cameras will scan and recognize faces. Don’t want to be in their database? Too bad — walk past a Ring and your face can be stored... 2 days ago:
Sure, but then you’re a suspect.
- Comment on kya 2 days ago:
I want a car that has a rear windscreen that can turn into a mirror at the push of a button. Really useful for dealing with men with tiny dicks who drive giant trucks
- Comment on Big Brother just got an upgrade. Starting December, Amazon’s Ring cameras will scan and recognize faces. Don’t want to be in their database? Too bad — walk past a Ring and your face can be stored... 2 days ago:
A balaklava and a can of spray paint would be cheaper and more effective.
- Comment on Big Brother just got an upgrade. Starting December, Amazon’s Ring cameras will scan and recognize faces. Don’t want to be in their database? Too bad — walk past a Ring and your face can be stored... 2 days ago:
We need to normalize spray painting the lenses on these things, as well as painting “big brother” on doorways of those that own them. If you enable fascism, you should expect some minor vandalism.
- Comment on What is the best advice you've ever been given? 1 week ago:
Always live one pay raise behind.
- Comment on whats your dumb purchases? 2 weeks ago:
I actually did the paint job myself. Bought an old saw that needed some new paint, so I decided to have some fun with it.
- Comment on whats your dumb purchases? 2 weeks ago:
I’m actually working on a PhD in the field. Whether that officially makes me a “scientist” I cannot say. But I have actually studied and done research in the field. Ask away!
- Comment on whats your dumb purchases? 2 weeks ago:
- Comment on do you use non violent communication at the workplace? 2 weeks ago:
You’re making an argument of absurd literalism. You argue that the name “non violent communication” is inappropriate because all language is non-violent by definition.
But obviously any description of language will be in the context of language. Words can be fearful, as in they display clear fear by their speaker, even though obviously words themselves cannot experience emotion. Language could be called “confusing,” even though language has no will, can take no action, and cannot confuse anyone.
Obviously words themselves are not physical things. That doesn’t mean language cannot be violent. Language can be violent in the exact same way language can be proud, boastful, joyful, and a thousand other things that words themselves are incapable of directly being or doing.
You’re performing an exercise in literalist absurdity. Is your name Amelia Bedelia by any chance?
- Comment on Seeking Critical Feedback: A Conceptual Model of Time & Measurement Based on Constraint Fields 3 weeks ago:
math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html
Seriously, take a look at the crackpot index.
- Comment on Seeking Critical Feedback: A Conceptual Model of Time & Measurement Based on Constraint Fields 3 weeks ago:
My point is, that you cannot make any kind of informed conceptual model UNLESS you already have mastery of the equations of existing models. Einstein used conceptual models, but he fully understood the math of the older theories he was expanding on. It doesn’t seem you have the background for this.
And yes, it seems you are proposing something that is a kind of grand unified theory, whether you recognize it or not. You’re trying to spend the entire foundations of physics, but you lack the math knowledge to understand even existing theories. You can’t improve upon that which you do not understand. If you think physics is just a conceptual model, you don’t understand physics.
- Comment on Seeking Critical Feedback: A Conceptual Model of Time & Measurement Based on Constraint Fields 3 weeks ago:
The one thing I’ve learned from Angela collier is that your really can’t get far in physics with conceptual models. Those are largely the realm of crackpots.
The “conceptual” thing is the real red flag here. Have you actually defined your ideas mathematically, or are you arguing based on a hazy conceptual/qualitative model? Another big red flag is you’re proposing something that sounds like a unified field theory. Crackpots tend not to focus on unsolved but modest problems in physics; they tend to go straight for the grandest Einstein-level revelations. You don’t see people writing, “I have no degree in physics, but here is my new groundbreaking paper on the half life of neutrinos” You instead see people writing, “I have no degree in physics, but here is my new theory of everything.”
Physics is ultimately one hair’s breadth away from pure mathematics. And the mathematics behind theories like quantum mechanics and general relativity are very complex and difficult. For this reason, most people get their knowledge of advanced physics from pop-sci books and videos. (Nothing wrong with this, I’m not a physicist myself either.) These sources are not academic; they explain not through mathematics, but through analogy and qualitative descriptions. And while this method of explanation makes physics accessible to the lay public, it has a downside. People often confuse physics analogies for actual physics. They don’t understand the mathematics, so they form theories that are largely qualitative and are extensions of the analogies they learn in the popular science works.
My main questions would be:
- Do you know how to perform rigorous calculations in general relativity?
- Do you know how to perform rigorous calculations in quantum mechanics?
- Is the theory you’ve developed an actual quantitative theory, composed of formal proof and mathematical argument, or merely one of qualitative analogy?
It’s fine if you don’t actually have a degree in physics. Maybe you’re a self-taught autodidact that’s gained a level of physics knowledge equivalent to at least a graduate student in physics, but without ever actually pursuing a degree in it. To have even the tiniest chance of your idea being valid, you need not have a degree in physics, but you do need to have physics and mathematical knowledge equivalent to those who do have these degrees. If you can’t, at a minimum, work through the equations of GM and quantum, then there’s not a snowball’s in Hell of building some new unified theory of everything.
Maybe you actually do have some mathematical model you’re trying to develop. But please, just realize, every physics professor of virtually any serious public profile gets a crackpot theory of everything emailed to them every week. Someone like Michio Kaku probably gets multiple candidate theories of everything emailed to him on a daily basis. It’s incredibly common for some reasonably intelligent people to fall down a rabbit hole and convince themselves they’ve created a new revolutionary theory redefining the very foundations of physics. But really, unless you, at a bare minimum, already understand the full mathematics behind existing theories, it’s really not worth your time to try dreaming up new theories. You simply don’t have the mathematical and physics understanding necessary to make a meaningful contribution to the field.
- Comment on Know your place 3 weeks ago:
And yet we are the only conscious beings on any of these heavenly bodies that are aware enough to give their existence any meaning at all.
- Comment on 3 weeks ago:
Why were they kangaroo courts? They were established by an International Charter.. You can point out that the Nazi’s crimes weren’t illegal under German law, but who cares? Multiple jurisdictions can exist simultaneously. Sure there’s an element of ex post facto in making crimes against humanity a legal charge after the fact, but the ex post facto protections are something we democratically agreed to adopt. And maybe we can just agree to not let genocide be subject to ex post facto protections under international treaty. Yes, this was all just made up by people, but ultimately all laws and legal systems were first dreamed up by people doing a lot of improvisation.
- Comment on Too soon? 3 weeks ago:
Seriously. The idea that they’re just words and they have no meaning is historically ignorant. We executed Nazi propagandists, even if they never killed anyone with their own hands. Inciting others to genocide is still a crime against humanity.
Kirk was openly calling for the extermination of a group of people that represents the same portion of the US population as the Jews did in Germany prior to WW2. It is not all hyperbole to place Kirk’s death in its proper historical context. We literally executed people for doing what Kirk made his whole career doing.
- Comment on 3 weeks ago:
Sure. Even if the raw numbers said that say, trans people are 1% of the population, and 1.5% of shooters, that would still be a meaningless figure. The sample size is too low to make any meaningful conclusion.
But the point is even if you don’t apply statistics, even using the sample we have, trans people are vastly under-represented among shooters. We represent about 1% of the population and 0.1% of shooters. You don’t even need to apply statistics. The numbers on their face show that there is zero evidence that trans people are over-represented.
Now, statistically, I would say that there is insufficient evidence to suggest that the rate of trans shooters is any different from the overall population, higher or lower. But there is less than zero evidence that trans people are over-represented.
The trans shooter myth is simply blood libel.
- Comment on 3 weeks ago:
It was more anti-trans hate mongering. 2 or 3 trans shooters out of 5700 is nothing. If you can whittle down the number of “mass shootings” to just a handful of incidents, can make it seem like trans people are vastly over-represented among school shooters.
- Comment on 3 weeks ago:
He was engaging in hate-mongering right until the end. Just like the Nazi propagandists of the WW2 era, he was spreading a message of a demonized minority group being responsible for countless crimes and social ills. He ran literally the exact same playbook against trans people as the Nazis did against Jews.
I have no more sympathy for him than the Nazi propagandists we hanged at Nuremberg. They’re guilty of the exact same crimes against humanity.
- Comment on 3 weeks ago:
At the end of the day he is a human being, that’s why.
Julius Streicher was also a human being. He was hanged at Nuremberg for the same kind of hate-mongering that Kirk made his whole career doing. Kirk was guilty of crimes against humanity.
- Comment on 3 weeks ago:
Neither did the children and families of Kirk’s numerous victims.
- Comment on Too soon? 4 weeks ago:
You’re right. He wasn’t Hitler. He was Julius Streicher.
Charlie Kirk’s life ended on September 10, 2025 shot in the neck by an assassin’s bullet.
Julius Streicher met his end on October 16, 1946, hanged from the neck in Nuremberg Prison.
- Comment on 4 weeks ago:
Exactly. I’ve been saying this all day, but we literally hanged people at Nuremberg for doing exactly what Kirk made his whole career doing. Kirk was guilty of incitement to genocide.
- Comment on Too soon? 4 weeks ago:
No, he actually, absolutely, objectively did deserve to die. Maybe not by vigilante justice, but he absolutely deserved to be in the ground. The world is a better place without him in it.
Have you forgotten your history? We hanged people at Nuremberg for doing exactly what Kirk made his whole career doing. We hanged people at Nuremberg for crimes against humanity who did what Kirk did. We hanged Nazi propagandists who spent years inciting hate against the Jewish population. Kirk was absolutely guilty of incitement to genocide. He was responsible for countless deaths. He made his whole career trying to incite violence and hate against innocent people.
In a just world he would hang for his crimes. But we don’t live in a just world. The closest we get to justice is vigilante justice.
- Comment on Reddit lost it 4 weeks ago:
Dangerous and addictive technologies and substances are always regulated. There’s a reason we don’t let ten year olds buy vodka.
- Comment on YSK that hand sewing is a stupid cheap hobby to get into and reduces your impact on the environment 5 weeks ago:
I had two holes down there, but at some point I decided to get another one installed. Unfortunately it was absolutely not a DIY installation. :/
- Comment on It's Wednesday! 5 weeks ago:
Happy Day of Odin to all of you!
- Comment on UK’s last local currency axed due to rise of digital and card payments 5 weeks ago:
I wonder if crypto coins could serve a similar role here. Except instead of mining, just create the tokens and start the currency by giving every resident an equal share.
- Comment on That's an impressive drop. Any ideas why? 5 weeks ago:
Many animals breed less in captivity. Many do not breed at all. The less people feel a sense of control over their own lives, the weaker the desire to procreate becomes. Even if people use birth control, sex drive is still ultimately a reproductive urge. If you’re a farmer in the 19th century ? You have a great deal of freedom and independence. Mid 20th century American worker? Homes are cheap. Jobs are abundant. Labor rights are strong. You have lots of options on how to earn a living. You have a clear path to getting a home and raising a family on your own terms. Present-day 20 something? You don’t just have roommates in an apartment; you’re actually sharing bedrooms. Or you’re stuck living under your parents’ roof forever, your only hope of home ownership being them passing it on to you. All the jobs available to you don’t come close to providing any kind of independent living, let alone the wages to actually buy a home, start a family, etc. You’re just going to have to run on the wage slave treadmill til you die.
The economy has developed to squeeze ever more out of workers and consumers. We’re psychologically manipulated at every turn. Every business feels like a scam trying to pull one over on you. You can’t even sign up for a gym membership without risking getting caught in dark business practices (their infamous cancellation policies.) People feel and are trapped in a system that they have little to no control over. Politicians only listen to the wealthy. Unions provided some voice to the voiceless for some time, but those have been gutted. People feel like cornered animals. They feel as though the entire system is just on elaborate exercise in thinly veiled slavery meant to extract every last once of the work product of your entire life from you. The wealthy pay you a pittance for your labor and then take all that pittance back in usurious rents. People feel trapped.
Lots of animals refuse to reproduce in captivity. Lots of animals reduce their birth rates under captivity. Why should humans be any different? Why should we be any different than the mice of Universe 25?
- Comment on That's an impressive drop. Any ideas why? 5 weeks ago:
My husband and I met on OKCupid, definitely not a traditional third space. But we met back in 2014, back when the site was still good. It’s algorithm was actually really good back then if you put the effort into actually filling out the quizzes and surveys. But as time has gone on, it seems they have really enshittified. Instead of helping people finding meaningful relationships, they just try to keep people subscribed for as long as possible. And my husband and I met on OKCupid without ever subscribing for anything; we never gave them a dime.
- Comment on US would control Gaza, displace all its people under new plan: report 5 weeks ago:
Exactly. Behind the scenes they were pressuring Israel to open up “temporary” refugee camps in the Sinai to accept large numbers of Gazans. Israel would inevitably close the border after the Gazans were expelled. The Biden admin got the ball rolling on ethnic cleansing; they just tried to portray it as a humanitarian operation.