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cynar

@ cynar @lemmy.world

Posts
2
Comments
462
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • What are some illegal things that should be legal?

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  • Many places make it illegal to allow police to intercede. In most places, the police can intervene if they believe a crime is about to be committed.

    There is a huge line between someone who is terminally ill, and wants to die on their own terms, and someone having a mental health crisis. The first should be legal, but still needs support and checking, the 2nd need immediate help.

  • OpenAI, Google, Anthropic admit they can’t scale up their chatbots any further

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  • That's also just the electrical portion of our mind. There are whole levels of chemical, and chemical potentials at work. Neurones will fire differently depending on the chemical soup around them. Most of our moods are chemically based. E.g. adrenaline and testosterone making us more aggressive.

    Our mind also extends out of our heads. Organ transplant recipricants have noted personality changes. Food preferences being the most prevailant.

    The neurons only deal with 'fast' thinking. 'slow' thinking is far more complex and distributed.

  • Something's not adding up

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  • 0.5% is so tiny that it disappears into the noise. It's a 1 in 200 difference. In theory, it would make a difference. In practice, you won't be able to measure it. Other confounding factors would bury it.

  • Something's not adding up

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  • The difference is about 0.5%. A mass weighing 100kg at the north pole would only weigh 99.5kg at the equator. Most of the difference is the centerfugal force of the earth's rotation.

    I've not checked the numbers, but apparently it's detectable in Olympic sports. More height records get broken at equatorial latitudes that higher ones.

  • Anon questions our energy sector

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  • The problem is that nuclear reactors can't be built fast. We've also lost a lot of the expertise to age and retirement.

    Nuclear should have been a major factor in dealing with climate change. Unfortunately, we no longer have time for it to take up the slack. It will need to catch up with other renewable energy sources, we can't wait for it.

  • Anon questions our energy sector

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  • Particularly since coal power stations emit FAR more radioactive material, routinely, than most nuclear "leaks".

  • TIL when applying for a British passport online, your identity has to be confirmed by someone who is not a relative, knows you for two years, and has to be from a specific (weird) list of professions.

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  • You still need to sort out and sign a bunch of identity confirmation/anti money laundering stuff. The government has a good track on you, at that point. It's far from perfect, but stops people getting it signed off by a random friend, that the government has no clue about, and might not even exist.

  • TIL when applying for a British passport online, your identity has to be confirmed by someone who is not a relative, knows you for two years, and has to be from a specific (weird) list of professions.

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  • They are all professions that require a good reputation and are non-trivial to up and abandon. Some require government licenses, others imply a strong societal standing. All have something to lose, if they commit fraud.

  • Have you tried not having a smashed hand?

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  • What we need is clean, efficient treatment paths for acute depression. Barriers to treatment are the worst thing possible.

    We need to work on attacking root causes, not just throw some drugs at the person and call it a day.

    We need to help teach depressed people HOW to start pulling themselves out, not just to try harder.

    Once the patient is stable, we need to NOT just wash our hands of them, treatment wise. This is the time that spending mental effort will lead to far bigger gains.

    It's the difference between telling someone with broken legs to "walk it off" vs emergency treatment, casts for 6+ weeks, and then physiotherapy where "walk it off" becomes walk on it to rebuild your strength.

    The "just try harder" mentality got me into the mess Ive been in. It burnt me out, and it took me decades to even realise how bad I actually was, and years more to even start getting the help I actually needed. Even now, I have to fight for it. 1 slip up, and I'm set back months or years in the process. It's like putting the hospital A&E department on the 5th floor, with no lifts, and expecting people to walk up if they really want treatment.

  • Have you tried not having a smashed hand?

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  • All of those points are things that depression actively disrupts. It's akin to asking an American, living hand to mouth, to just pay out of pocket. It's not a case of not going on an extra holiday. It's a case of not making rent payments to do it.

    Depression can leave you without enough mental resources to even maintain basic functionality. An upfront cost, for a payout potential years down the line, is simply more than many can afford.

    The worst part is that you are correct. However, it's the same correctness as telling someone about to lose their house to "just make more money". Technically correct, but useless and callous in practice.

  • And guess what, that works.

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  • To be fair, my research is decades old at this point.

  • And guess what, that works.

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  • Some slight ramdom paper reading, back in my uni days. Though I've ran across it via other sources over the years since. Unfortunately I don't have any links to hand though.

    It might better be described as people put numbers into categories. Most people have a 10-20 category. 19.99 fits. 20.00 gets bumped up to the next box. It's a sub/semi conscious thing. If we use our higher thought process, we can deal with the numbers. That takes effort however, by default, we chunk. The price just abuses a common rollover point most people share.

  • And guess what, that works.

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  • It's a subconscious thing. It's how our brain is wired. It's a bit like advertising. Most people don't like ads. However, when confronted my 2 similar products, we will go with the familiar one. The source of that familiarity is irrelevant, ads make it familiar, just the same as using it, or a recommendation.

    It's possible to override both of these effects, but that requires a level of conscious effort. I can almost guarantee you've been caught by both at different times. You just didn't notice (since noticing would allow you to correct).

    Basically, $19.99 is in the category "under $20". $20.00 is in "over $20". Without conscious correction, you act on this.

  • And guess what, that works.

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  • It was originally to force the cashier to open the till.

    Say an item was $20. If the customer paid with a $20 note, then the cashier could, intheory, pocket it, without it showing up on the rocords. If it was $19.99 they needed to open the till to get a cent out. This meant it was recorded, and so the till wouldn't balance.

  • And guess what, that works.

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  • Most people round down. Their brain locks on to the 1 of 19.99, and approximates it to 10.00. We need to actively counter this to see it as 20.00. It's a skill most people don't apply all the time, and a number can't even do.

    Once you can do it reliably, it's mind-boggling that others can't, but it's still a learnt skill, that needs to be applied.

  • Maga’s violent threats spike as little girls threatened with rape

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  • Before you criticise, you should have seen the alternative timelines! If we had switched on sooner, we might have been able to avoid this one, but we didn't.

    All I will say is imagine a Trump with a triple digit IQ and competent advisors. It was horrifying. Multiple techs took compassionate leave after seeing some of the projections. Poor mark still can't make himself enter the building!

  • How much of a game changer was USB-C for you, compared to other cables?

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  • What are your jokes for younger children?

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  • I have some sense of self preservation. She's bad enough right now calling everyone a banana!

  • What are your jokes for younger children?

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  • They definitely do!