Hacker News: 2devnull

New comment by 2devnull in "A brief, weird history of brainwashing"

2devnull — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 07:38:40 +0000

I gave one quote that is an example of the lack of thought, here’s another,

“by spending millions of dollars on research into manipulating the human brain. But while the science never exactly panned out, residual beliefs fostered by this bizarre conflict continue to play a role”

In what sense did the science “not pan out”?

What “residual beliefs” could she mean? The text implies that it’s the idea that the human brain cannot be manipulated.

Almost every sentence has that level of inanity and incoherence. Advertising meanwhile is a billion dollar industry built on manipulating brains.

New comment by 2devnull in "A brief, weird history of brainwashing"

2devnull — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 01:43:37 +0000

The author seems not merely uninformed but a mix of unaware and unconcerned that they don’t know what they’re talking about. No discussion of hypnosis, Stockholm syndrome, and a general vibe that psychology is like not really a thing unless it coincides with cherished narratives. And then little chestnuts like, “the idea of brainwashing continues to be a powerful metaphor for the effects of systemic racism.” Say what?

New comment by 2devnull in "House Votes to Extend–and Expand–A Major US Spy Program"

2devnull — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 21:07:05 +0000

“ and disrupt international drug cartels who are looking to smuggle fentanyl into our nation,” they said.”

Just a totally absurd statement. Drug traffickers pour across the border in droves, daily. Anybody who supported this && does not support securing the border is a corrupt weasel and an enemy of Americans.

New comment by 2devnull in "Changes in conspiracy beliefs are rare, but possible"

2devnull — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 07:53:23 +0000

“It also implies that explanations of belief in conspiracy theories need to accommodate the observation that beliefs in such theories vary much more between people than within people.”

To me it implies that what they are operational using as “conspiracy theory” is nothing more than individual differences in personality. Those who want to study/address/remove “conspiracy theories” really just have a problem with individual differences and want to control others.

New comment by 2devnull in "Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness"

2devnull — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 14:34:35 +0000

Usenet didn’t have this problem. It’s not being online and interacting with others that’s the problem. It’s the money. And we’ve known that forever.

New comment by 2devnull in "Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness"

2devnull — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 14:32:45 +0000

Arguably that’s the meta force behind social media. The platforms are designed to make people think in collectivist terms, which coincidentally (or not) makes things easier for more tyrannical forms of government. Indeed Facebook and old twitter are arguably quasi-federal entities.

New comment by 2devnull in "Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness"

2devnull — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 14:16:09 +0000

I’d say a lot of that is genetic and or cultural. At the very least there are many of us who do not possess that instinct. We have much lower karma scores but we don’t care.

New comment by 2devnull in "Anger is eliminated with the disposal of a paper written because of provocation"

2devnull — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 15:50:13 +0000

“the skill to stop being angry”

Often that amounts to changing the people or circumstances in one’s life. That’s the point of therapy. A good therapist wouldn’t help a sexually abused child stay in a bad situation and just learn to suppress emotion. Well maybe a cbt therapist would. But a good therapist would try to help catalyze a change in the situation causing the trauma.

New comment by 2devnull in "Anger is eliminated with the disposal of a paper written because of provocation"

2devnull — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 15:44:36 +0000

Monks are doing it on easy mode. They have nothing to anger them, zero triggers. It’s the whole point of hermeticism. Remove all sources of stress. Desire nothing. Of course they aren’t angry, they have nothing; nothing to feel angry about.

New comment by 2devnull in "Anger is eliminated with the disposal of a paper written because of provocation"

2devnull — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 15:37:25 +0000

The world is nothing but edge cases. Expressing anger requires cooperation. If someone doesn’t want to listen, and you express anger at them anyway, is it not abuse?

New comment by 2devnull in "The Defenestrations of Prague (1419–1997)"

2devnull — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 22:34:15 +0000

I think the answer about why it’s so specific is if you just say you threw someone out of a window people might assume it was only one story high and not lethal. Defenestration tells you that it was a high window, and often implies the ejection of the owner or a legitimate occupant. Similar to shock vs electrocution.

New comment by 2devnull in "Microsoft, Google join study to see if AI will affect jobs"

2devnull — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 14:57:40 +0000

Seems wise to get out in front of the impending backlash.

New comment by 2devnull in "US court blocks EPA order to eliminate PFAS in plastic containers"

2devnull — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 23:05:13 +0000

Seems like a good lens through which to view California politics, which is often dominated for better and worse by special interests like the trial lawyers, firefighters, etc…

New comment by 2devnull in "US court blocks EPA order to eliminate PFAS in plastic containers"

2devnull — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 13:24:53 +0000

Boycott please.

New comment by 2devnull in "US court blocks EPA order to eliminate PFAS in plastic containers"

2devnull — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 13:23:12 +0000

“Not only did we measure significant concentrations of PFAS in these containers, we can estimate the PFAS that were leaching off creating a direct path of exposure,” said study coauthor Graham Peaslee, PhD, professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Notre Dame.”

I’m glad the EPA tried but have to wonder why congress can’t do their jobs.

New comment by 2devnull in "'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing in Gaza"

2devnull — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 14:36:24 +0000

Probably going to be flame city in this thread, but I think it’s worth asking: is it possible that even with collateral damage (killing women and children because of hallucinations) that AI based killing technology is actually more ethical and safer than warfare that doesn’t use AI. But AI is really just another name for math, so maybe it’s not a useful conversation. Militaries use advanced tech and that’s nothing new.

New comment by 2devnull in "Taiwan Quake Puts Most Advanced Chips at Risk"

2devnull — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 14:23:18 +0000

Weird, I feel like I read the opposite thing just last night; that historically, prior quakes didn’t cause tsmc to slow production significantly. Because earthquakes are expected there are safeguards in place.

New comment by 2devnull in "What the Suburb Haters Don't Understand"

2devnull — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 14:15:38 +0000

Right. Urbanism is a primary driver of racial strife and violence. Look at crime stats. Cities make people violent. Nature makes people calmer and less likely to commit violent acts.

New comment by 2devnull in "What the Suburb Haters Don't Understand"

2devnull — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 14:09:21 +0000

Suburbia isn’t famous for its total lack of sidewalks. It’s not famous for being unsafe to bike in either.

New comment by 2devnull in "What the Suburb Haters Don't Understand"

2devnull — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 14:05:59 +0000

Not in the Bay Area. Or manhattan. City living is for the wealthy. Working folks live in cheaper places like East Palo Alto.