theneverfox

An explosion is pure entropy. It's high energy releasing to a low energy state in an uncontrolled manner

We climb down the energy slope very slowly to reverse entropy and create order

The universe is like us - temporary order emerges as it slides towards entropy

The comments in a healthy social network are the only way to get near the truth at this point. I read the comments before the article at this point

Because you can do kinematics two ways. You can look at it by speed*mass, or by energy - in both cases it quickly gets way more complicated when you move beyond spherical cows in a vacuum, but both are equally valid. There's trade-offs to each approach, but the answer should end up the same

Just like how you can say a rod from God or an asteroid impact is x kilotons of explosives, you're looking at the energy being scattered on impact. If you set your reference frame to Earth, you only have to look at the relative speed and mass of the other object and you get a reasonable estimate. You could also factor in how much the earth moves from the impact, factor in how much the atmosphere, water, and soil "soften the blow", you could theoretically look at how the movement of other celestial bodies gently tugs at both as they impact, the resistance of the materials moving through the earth's (and sun's) magnetic field, and endless other factors

Ultimately, models are extreme simplifications, as are measurements. The universe doesn't care about units or numbers, the universe works on ratios. Numbers aren't real - they're a mental shortcut. Something exists or it doesn't, there isn't two of anyone as far as reality is concerned. Our universe cannot be compressed beyond itself without losing information

You probably don't care about how much torque your car has on Io, but reality does. 10k tons of TNT is not remotely going to be the same as a nuclear explosion, but humans will only see a mushroom cloud and destruction over a similar area

But models are useful - they predict well enough to give us a starting point.

Wait, our hat has oil? Eagle screech intensifies

It's actually "Tesla real", learn to speak Spanish you uncultured swine

I think an individual opinion can matter, even k the face of commercial success

But here's the thing - "I don't like it" doesn't cut it. If you can't tell me why you don't like the beetles, your opinion is less than worthless

Personally, I think the beetles were great, and I think rush of rain was too. It was the first rouglike platformer shooter I've ever heard of... The beetles consistently pushed boundaries, doing it once doesn't put you on their level

On the other hand, the beetles were able to to that because no one was there to tell them no. I agree with the sentiment - games are art. I'd happily overlook a dozen failures for each success

Printing for a single city has got to be more than hosting for an entire country

Think of all the people you need to print everything out before the next morning - you need a big enough staff of editors and reporters that you can get everything ready in a short time frame, you need the staff to handle the printing overnight, you need drivers to deliver within a 3-ish hour period and the staff to coordinate and load them up

Meanwhile, for a website, a team of 5 developers/devops could handle all of it. You still need journalists and editors, but they are no longer on the same time frame - they can just release things as they're ready, and maybe curate an email for the day and what appears on the homepage.

As far as paper and print costs vs hosting costs? If each paper cost 1 cent, were talking like between .01 cent and .0001 cent per page view, maybe even a tenth or hundredth of that. It adds up quickly, but compared to paper and ink?

Damn straight. I don't fear AI, I fear an even more uneven playing field

Well taking the greentext at face value (otherwise what are we even discussing), it did help the kid. It prevented traumatic unscientific "treatment", as well as offering a supportive ear - that's helping the kid

Now let's say the intent was to scam - let's say you were scammed into a self help program, and it gives you the confidence to succeed or helps you heal from past trauma... I'd argue that you weren't scammed, because it worked (even if the intent was predatory)

Psychics come to mind - if people walk out better than they came in, I don't think you've done anything wrong. If they don't, then you're taking advantage of them - to me, outcomes matter more than intent.

I think of them like unlicensed therapists - even if you get a license, if you're causing more harm than help you're acting unethically, even if you've done the paperwork and have good intentions

Outcomes matter more than intent, they're what we have to live with

Let's recontextualize this - my neighbor wants to spend $5k to remove a safety feature from their car, because they saw a dumb tick tock. Let's say it's ABS breaking, they're just absolutely convinced it's bad

Now I hear about this, and I don't want their stupidity to kill their whole family. I offer to do it for $1k, and instead I actually change their brakes.

Is this ethical? In the end, I didn't honor the words of our agreement, because it was very stupid. It would've been unethical, likely illegal, to do what they asked

I did save them money and prevent them from finding someone who would've done what they asked. I also did work on their car, just not what they thought I did. They're happy with the result, and no longer seeking to remove a system they don't understand

It depends on your ethical framework, but it seems like a stretch to call this theft. The guy in the post provided babysitting and mentorship, which is part of the agreed services. They would probably not have paid so much for what they actually got, but a certain amount of markup is needed to sell the ruse

It's really simple - centralization = seat of power

The worst flavor of people are drawn to that like moths to a flame. It's not even a good idea, any potential economies of scale are wasted by communication lag in the bureaucracy

Decentralization is key. You can have a commune easy enough, humans self organize just fine in small enough communities. There's communes all over the world doing just fine

The question is, how do you knit those small communities together in a way that doesn't give anyone much power, but still come together when needed?

I too appreciate when entities take the mask off