tobychev @tobychev@social.cleverlibre.org

I wanted to consolidate a few thoughts on google, misinformation, large language models, enshittification, and the fate of the web as we know it.

It started when Carl Zimmer shared this remarkable example of Google being fooled by machine-generated bullshit online.

So much wrong with the US health care system.

New research "published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, found a wide discrepancy in prices [for baby delivery]...ranging from less than $1,000...up to $100,000. Even at the same hospital, price quotes varied—sometimes by tens of thousands of dollars—depending on whether the researchers checked online or asked for a price quote by phone."

1/4

Gift link:
https://wapo.st/3rDfYH8

A new satellite appears brighter in the night sky than most stars, causing concern for astronomers, as well as the casual stargazer.

TAGS: #space #astronomy

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03054-x

Inom sju veckor har två av de områden som pekats ut som särskilda riskområden av MSB drabbats av katastrofer. Samtidigt kapar regeringen budgeten till just den typen av kartläggningar.

Regeringen har en egen agenda som inte är förankrad i verkligheten, baseras på ren ideologi och fantasi och som absolut inte har Sveriges bästa för ögonen.

https://www.dn.se/sverige/peter-alestig-vi-har-varnats-for-just-detta-men-alltfor-fa-har-lyssnat/

"We don't need to visit Egypt, we've got Suez at home."

Suez at home:

30 years ago, Russia's elected president and parliament both attempted to seize power. Yeltsin rolled out the tanks. A super-presidential constitution followed in December. Democrats abandoned Yeltsin, who turned to oligarchs for support and put #Russia on the path to #autocracy.

Just seen a new favourite response to AI text. "Why should I bother to read something nobody could be bothered to write?"

And we are live 🙀

It has only taken 25 years to get to this point, but here we are.

I'll post much more soon, but first I think need a moment.

#JWST #PiecesOfOrion #Astrodon

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Webb_s_wide-angle_view_of_the_Orion_Nebula_is_released_in_ESASky

I guess now we know which button she's pushing.

Once again we are appealing on behalf of the many victims of Harvard Brain Disease

🚨Out in PNAS🚨
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2301491120
"No association between numerical ability and politically motivated reasoning in a large US probability sample"

Know that influential finding that more numerate people are more politically biased?

We did NOT replicate it in a probability sample 2x larger than the original paper.

Across 5 different contentious issues, we found that people with higher numeracy gave more correct answers, regardless of whether the correct answer aligned with their politics.

We did, however, find a main effect of political alignment ( that was robust to controlling for priors) - that is, people were more likely to get the answer right when the correct answer aligned with their politics.

These results raise serious questions about the claim that motivation hijacks reasoning, while nonetheless supporting the existence of some form of motivated processing.

@hanse_mina The English editing office of Yle has made an article about this in English, too, with all the videos:

https://yle.fi/a/74-20051353?origin=rss

Astronomy story time.

The supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy is named Sagittarius A* (often abbreviated Sgr A*, pronounced Sagittarius A-star, yes you say the asterisk). Ever wonder how it got its name?

It's because the compact radio source (later confirmed to be from the black hole) was "exciting". The name is in analogy to excited atoms, which are designated with a *. And for some reason the name stuck.

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003ANS...324..497G/abstract

If someone posts, "I agree with the science of climate change" ... and then follows it with "but" ... it means, they don't accept the science of climate change and are a climate denier.

🌍🔥 #ClimateBrawl 🔥🌍

This is the main motorway from Gothenburg to Oslo. Happened overnight. Yes, people drove over the edge into it. Rescue efforts underway.

https://www.gp.se/nyheter/storg%C3%B6teborg/slukh%C3%A5l-p%C3%A5-e6-v%C3%A4gen-helt-avst%C3%A4ngd-1.110594514

The Dutch government on Friday announced that it would stop production from the Groningen gas field at the end of the month.

Gas extraction from the field had been ongoing for 60 years. It is the largest natural gas field in Europe and had at one point accounted for 90% of the gas supplied to Dutch houses.

The Dutch government had previously announced plans to close the field by 2030 due to the risk of low-magnitude earthquakes.

https://www.dw.com/en/netherlands-closes-groningen-gas-field-over-quake-fears/a-66898500

#Netherlands #Groningen #Gas #Energy

Unicode 2212 is the minus sign −, and PDG code 2212 is the proton. I find that disturbing.