Josh Schwartz

Any serious scientist wants to know what is true. We may fumble in our attempts to find out, but our craft is always in the service of knowing what *is* and from there can flow all the discussions of what humans should do. The arrows do not go the other way.

@JohnathonTrick @datingbyblaine You may not have dated enough crazy people.

@Metal_Crow @datingbyblaine No, it’s “I don’t want someone disagreeable, ie follow my lead patriarchal bullshit”

Dating criteria I hear often from wealthy matchmaking clients: • Thin, pretty, natural look (e.g. no obvious facial fillers) • Fit, healthy relationship with food & gym • Has an actual career (specifics rarely important) • Warm, playful, feminine energy • No extreme political views

@JohnathonTrick @datingbyblaine I think it's just code for good mental health, not apathy.

@datingbyblaine “No extreme political views” is such a pussy male ask. They want a pretty, apathetic robot.

@foolishly I'm not sure I understand.

Jeepers, it's almost like some sort of toxic culture where people are afraid to speak their minds has just suddenly developed on campuses.

Has anybody encountered this sort of punitive, censorious culture before? We need expertise on the matter. Maybe they could get together to write a letter in Harper's, or something.

The first criminal case of streaming fraud where a North Carolina musician who used AI to make songs, then streamed them billions of times himself making $8 million

You just created a million Chuck Norrises

No. This just means the grim reaper is about to regret his occupation.

@PaulRoundy1 That doesn't follow: the source said "25% more of their lives" so that is accounted for, it would seem.

Women live longer lives than men, on average, so it's not surprising that they average in poorer health.

@peterboghossian @wil_da_beast630 It's supposed to be "For Britannia!"

@wil_da_beast630 I have never said "Britain" during sex.

Two takes: (1) I really don't care at all that a politician's wife or lover once said "faggot." The percentage of tolerable people who have NEVER said "cunt" during sex or Britain, or "nigga" to a hoops defender, is on the order of 3%. I am spelling out these words because "we grown." But...(2) This common sense rule has to go both ways. What was the Mamdanis' position on the Covington kids?

The concepts of "high decoupling" and "low decoupling" have always seemed a bit gimmicky to me, but I've come to think that they (and more formal equivalents used in the behavioral sciences) are useful. One of the big problems with contemporary public discussion is that most of it comes from people who are incapable of setting aside their broader emotional responses and looking at specific issues on their merits. For example, if you're a "low decoupler" and someone is generally a political opponent, you have to prove that s/he is wrong on every single thing every single time. Conversely, if you feel sympathy for some group, no member of the group can ever be in the wrong in any set of circumstances that ever arises, and on each occasion has to be defended to the death. No moral intuition that you have can ever be admitted to being probably somewhat irrational in its origin in your thinking (so you can never get any distance from your own intuitions). If anyone disagrees with you about any instances of any of the above, you assume that they are somehow your moral and political enemy across the board (and they should probably be destroyed, or at least discredited in some way). Frankly, dealing with people like this - the "low decouplers" - is frustrating and exhausting (much more than dealing with people who are my political or philosophical opponents but are not like this). It's impossible making any intellectual progress in discussion with them. But I've come to understand over the years that they are in the majority and I'm in a fairly small minority.

The happiest countries in the world tend to have the most heavy metal bands. stevestewartwilliams.com/p/political-bi…

I feel like nobody knows this but American math performance at the very top end has actually gotten better even while everyone else has gotten worse. the74million.org/article/how-12…

@brianws51 @davidfrum Point of order - "literally" losing your face looks like this.

@davidfrum She literally “Lost her Face” in that meeting. You can ALWAYS count on Trump to insult our ally leaders with his horrid, simpleton mind.

It was not a good idea for the prime minister of the politest nation in the world to accept a face-to-face meeting with this American president

"Massive investment in AI contributed basically zero to US economic growth last year," per Goldman Sachs

Social media has ripped our society apart. Perhaps AI can put it back together. noahpinion.blog/p/save-us-digi…

The egg I’m poaching:

@CJFerguson1111 @acerbialberto I don't think those messages were taken seriously by their intended recipients anyways. I do think our kids aren't hanging out in reality enough. My kids (12 and 9) have like zero friends going on, which is sad. But they don't use phones.

@Metal_Crow @acerbialberto YEah I've been seeing that with "Why are teens today dating less...is it the phones?" No, phones make dating easier. What made it harder was decades of public policy making sex sound disease ridden, dangerous, and rapey. *This is what you wanted!!*

Genuine question: excluding recent ones (e.g., smartphones, social media, genAI...), which technologies do you think made the human condition worse?

@CJFerguson1111 @acerbialberto Yup! I remember when conservatives were angry at teen moms having babies too early, and now they're angry at women having too few babies too late. Same story - can't win.

@Metal_Crow @acerbialberto Hah. Yes, on average kids today are far better behaved than in our generation. It's funny about that isn't it...society clambored for decades to get to more or less this spot with kids and, now having gotten it, declares it a crisis. Can't win. XD

@CJFerguson1111 @acerbialberto I added that kids today "traded in sex, drugs and rock 'n roll for their phones and it turns out those things were actually kinda fun."

@CJFerguson1111 @acerbialberto Well they haven't gotten into the weeds of the battling studies over it. They were pretty passive. But when you made your point about kids today having fewer risky behaviors, they appreciated that - and I added that maybe there were tradeoffs going on.