Nick @internic@social.cleverlibre.org

@ditsch42 @MichaelPorter Oh good, I was about to say "I don't know specifically what they're doing with them, but there are a lot of interesting possibilities." On the topic of BECs on the ISS, there may be some interesting reading here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/cold-atom-laboratory-cal

@cstross Oh, you mean Smart Pipe? ;-)
https://youtu.be/DJklHwoYgBQ

@perigrin @goodthinking @pluralistic

@lmorchard This seems to be predicated on the idea that an instance works like a moderated listserv or forum, with moderator review of every post prior to publishing. Are there any instances that work this way? I have yet to encounter one.

Otherwise, it seems like the transferred posts would be just a proportionally small blip compared to the continuous stream of new posts on an instance. The only exception being if a significant number of people moved en masse.

Also, if the moved posts only do not show up as new posts on the local timeline or other instances federated timelines then they are even less consequential, since you have to go to that individuals profile to even notice them.

@markmetz I wish the article had addressed trade-offs versus related technology like rooftop solar and attic fans.

@mhoye I would have thought the first obstacle would be lack of an optical drive.

@mcnees Do you think this is a new phenomenon or just a new consequence of an existing one?

And to be fair, it sounds like you're talking about people claiming some concerted top-down attempt at silencing dissent (a pretty absurd idea if one is familiar with science/scientists), whereas I think most of the critics I mentioned talk more about things as a matter of group think among researchers (that then impacts the distribution of funding) rather than some grand conspiracy.

@mcnees I assume you're speaking here of the people one often sees online who would rank highly on @johncarlosbaez's crackpot index and not the likes of Hossenfelder, Woit, and Smolin, unless I've missed some key anti-vax developments there.

@genebean @ryan There are indeed many examples of that, for good and ill, which is why I think it's a position worthy of examination. Simply "I disagree with the person who makes this" isn't in itself a good rationale (assuming one wishes to live in a pluralistic society), whereas, for example, "money I pay for this this will then be put to uses I consider immoral" is. So far as I followed the argument here, it seemed to be more like the former. Perhaps I missed the part where there would be some articulable I'll caused by using the software.

@genebean @ryan The FediTips thread seems to come down to "don't use this software because the developer has expressed some views on geopolitics I don't agree with." I don't agree with the views in question either, but if you predicate your use of software on the complete agreement with the developer over political matters (not related to the software itself) I'm not sure that there will be much software left for you to use (on any front).

@dpiponi Interesting! I had read the claim previously that bristlecone pines were the oldest non-clonal organisms, but the oldest of them is just under 5000 years old, so I had a similar thought as @johncarlosbaez

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristlecone_pine

@eff This sort of thing is exactly what I had in mind when thinking about the unintended consequences of proposals like this:

https://fediscience.org/@gwagner/110508414533048620

#surveillanceState

@Bman @gwagner I am definitely in favor in principle of trying things like congestion pricing in all major cities, but I do wonder if it can be done without simultaneously enabling a vast expansion of the surveillance state. I mean, technologically I think it can be, but I'm not sure if it will be in practice. #privacy #civilliberties #surveillanc #surveillancestate #surveillancecapitalism

@gwagner Interesting. I wasn't surprised by a lot of these, but I didn't realize the Tel Aviv had such bad air quality.

(Aside: I would have boosted this except I try to mostly boost stuff that includes alt text.)

@veronica @tmr232 Totally agreed! I'm all for tech for making cars better. This just seems to be one application of tech that is making them worse (probably more guided by aesthetics or cost). I think there are all sorts of interesting things cars could do with, e.g. multi-spectral sensing and HUDs/AR.

@tmr232 @veronica I was reminded of this article from @arstechnica ironically comparing touchscreen interfaces to the physical interface in an older Volvo.

"VB tested 11 new cars alongside a 2005 Volvo C70, timing how long it took to perform a list of tasks in each car. These included turning on the seat heater, increasing the cabin temperature, turning on the defroster, adjusting the radio, resetting the trip computer, turning off the screen, and dimming the instruments.

The old Volvo was the clear winner. 'The four tasks is handled within ten seconds flat, during which the car is driven 306 meters at 110 km/h [1,004 feet at 68 mph],' VB found. Most of the other cars required twice as long, or more, to complete the same tasks."

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/08/yes-touchscreens-really-are-worse-than-buttons-in-cars-study-finds/

@gvwilson I'm not sure that it's directly in the wheelhouse of either @mhoye or @grimalkina, but it sounds at least somewhat related to things they care about. Perhaps one of them may chime in if they happen to know of resources.

@cavedueller @idoubtit In my area there were reports of people spotting a "mountain lion" (which lived here historically but whose modern range doesn't get close). It turned out to be a stray Bengal cat. ...which is funny, because a bobcat would seem like a more likely thing for which to mistake a Bengal and plausible in this area.

@BartoszMilewski If the typical time scale from listing to de-listing of a given stock were small compared to the time scale over which the value of the index changes appreciably, then you might be able to think of it as quasi-static, but I think in actuality you're closer to the opposite regime. @dpiponi @johncarlosbaez

@BartoszMilewski I'm not saying thermodynamics can't be used as analogy at all (though I'm not convinced it's an apt one); however you were talking about Maxwell's demon, which is usually discussed in reference to extracting work from or creating disequilibrium in closed systems at equilibrium. I guess I'm saying that if anything the stock market is more analogous to a heat engine, where one can perfectly well extract work or bring previously equilibrated subsystems out of equilibrium (through compression or heating), because it is an open system, and part of a larger system that is not even approximately in equilibrium. @dpiponi @johncarlosbaez

@BartoszMilewski Isn't that analogy implicitly assuming that the system is in equilibrium? Economies tend to grow (in real terms) over the long haul (presumably due to population and productivity growth), so I don't think they are analogous to a system in equilibrium. @dpiponi @johncarlosbaez